Reaching Out
by Lissical
Summary: A 16 year old is raped, but is afraid to let anyone help her deal with it. Will Olivia be able to reach out to the teenager, especially when she learns she has more in common with the victim than she thought? Mainly drama here, and possibly some EO later.
1. Chapter 1

**Title: **Reaching Out

**Author: **Lisa

**Disclaimer: **I do not own any characters and never will except for the ones you do not recognize.

**Summary: **A 16 year old is raped, but is afraid to let anyone help her deal with it. Will Olivia be able to reach out to the teenager?

**A/N: **This is my first SVU story. It's been in my head for a while but I wasn't sure if I should post it or not. I hope you like it! Please review!

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_**Reaching Out: Chapter 1**_

**A dark alley**

**7:30pm**

She leaned up against the brick wall in the alley, barely able to catch her breath. She still couldn't believe what had just happened to her. _"If you tell anyone, especially the cops, it will be the last thing you ever do…" _The words he had said to her after he was finished kept repeating themselves over and over in her head.

Finally able to sit up and breathe, she wiped the tears from her face and reached over to her jacket, which was lying beside her and pulled out her cell phone. She couldn't call her mother since she was probably passed out on the sofa, drunk…besides, she'd probably just yell at her and tell her that she had it coming. Her father had passed away when she was little, leaving just the two of them.

Pausing for a moment to take another deep breath, she slowly dialed 911.

"911 emergency, how may I help you," the operator at the other end answered.

"I…I've just been raped," she said, barely audible. The fresh tears from her eyes began to make their way down her cheek again.

"All right," the operator said gently, "Where are you?"

Where was she indeed? Wincing from the pain as she leaned forward, she looked up at the street sign that was just under the blinding streetlight. "15th street, I think…I'm in an…an alley," she said as she looked around at her surroundings. "There's some kind of warehouse across the street," she said thoroughly confused. How did she get there?

"Okay honey, help is on the way. I'll stay on the phone with you until the police come if you'd like," the woman said sympathetically.

"Okay."

"What's your name?"

"Amanda."

* * *

**16****th**** Precinct**

**7:30pm**

"Done!" Olivia said as she closed the file folder she had just been working on.

"As am I," Elliot said as he stood up and stretched. "Need a lift home?"

"No I drove today, but thanks." She walked over to her locker and grabbed her bag.

"'Kay," he said as he grabbed his coat.

"I thought today would never end," she said with a sigh as they started to walk out towards the elevator.

"Benson, Stabler," Cragen's voice called right as they were about to step into the now open elevator.

Olivia let out an audible groan. "Yeah?"

"Sorry, but your day is not done yet." He looked up at his two best detectives. "A 16 year old girl was attacked and possibly raped." He gave Elliot the address, or rather the location of where the girl was.

"You ready," Elliot asked, looking over at Olivia.

"Yeah I guess," she said as she closed her eyes and sighed. This was the last thing she needed. She just wanted to go home and relax. Little did she know that this particular case was going to hit close to home for her.

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Well, that's chapter one! I know it's rather short but I needed to start somewhere. I promise I'll delve more into Amanda's life in the next chapter. Please review and let me know if I should continue with it. Even though I've written stories on here before, they've never been for Law & Order: SVU so I was a little nervous writing this one. Anyway, I will update as soon as I can if you guys want me to!


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: This story is going to be a bit AU in that Undercover never happened so Olivia wasn't nearly raped last year. It just makes this story flow a bit better in my opinion. Oh and Elliot and Kathy are separated and there's no Eli. Also thank you to those who reviewed! I truly appreciate it.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own them, and unfortunately never will. I do, however, own Amanda.**

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Olivia was silent for most of the drive, mainly concentrating on the streetlamps they passed under.

"You all right?"

The sound of Elliot's voice caused her to jump a little. "Yeah, just tired," she said as she looked over to him and gave him a fake 'I'm fine' smile.

He nodded, not really believing her, but that would have to wait as they had just pulled up to the crime scene.

Getting out of the car, Olivia saw the girl that Cragen had vaguely described. "What's going on," she asked one of the police officers when she noticed that no one seemed to be helping the girl.

"She won't let us talk to her and when we try to ask what happened, she just sits there and won't answer us," he said, sounding rather frustrated. "You know I'm starting to think that nothing actually happened."

"She's scared, what did you expect," Olivia said, trying her best not to slap the guy. "Moron," she muttered under her breath as she made her way over to the girl.

"What did she say," the officer asked Elliot.

"The same thing that I would have said." He followed Olivia over to where the girl was sitting.

"Hi," Olivia said as she approached her. She crouched down so she was at the same height as her. "I'm Detective Benson, but you can call me Olivia. Can you tell me your name?"

"Amanda Meyer," she said quietly. It was the first thing she said since she had made the phone call to 911.

"I was just wondering if you could tell me what happened tonight," Olivia said, trying to sound as comforting as possible.

Amanda simply shook her head when she saw a man come up behind Olivia.

Looking up to where Amanda was looking, Olivia saw that Elliot had just walked over. _That's why she won't say anything, _she thought to herself.

"Hey there," Elliot said, not seeing Olivia mouth 'no' to him.

"Go away!" Amanda yelled as she pulled her knees up to her chest, placing her arms on them and burying her head into her arms.

Elliot just looked over at Olivia and nodded. "I'll meet you at the hospital." He walked back to the car. After ten years of working together, they knew how to read each other's faces and could practically communicate without talking.

"It's just us again Amanda," Olivia said as she gently placed a hand on her arm.

Amanda slowly raised her head and wiped her eyes. "Thanks," she whispered.

"No problem. Why don't we go over to the ambulance so you can get checked out and go to the hospital." She picked up Amanda's jacket and held it for her while holding out her other hand to help her up.

"Okay," she said as she slowly stood up. As she got to her feet she cringed from the awful pain in her leg. Looking down, she could see that her jeans were torn and there was blood on them, hers no doubt. She clung to Olivia for support.

"Here we go," Olivia said as she helped her up. Realizing that she had dropped Amanda's jacket, Olivia bent down to retrieve it.

"Don't leave me!" Amanda yelled, thinking Olivia had left.

She quickly stood up, "I'm still here honey. I'm not going anywhere except to the hospital with you." She climbed into the ambulance and sat alongside Amanda.

"This gash looks pretty deep," the EMT said as they made their way to the hospital. He put on latex gloves and was about to apply pressure to it when…

"DON'T TOUCH ME! LEAVE ME ALONE!" Amanda cried out, causing the EMT to flinch.

Olivia, who was quite familiar with this scenario, simply grasped Amanda's had tighter. "It's all right honey, he just needs to stop your leg from bleeding. I promise I won't let him touch you anywhere else," she said, shooting a look to the EMT.

He nodded, "That's all I need to do," he said reassuring Amanda. He seemed somewhat relieved to have Olivia there, not knowing what would have happened had she not been with the girl.

* * *

**Hospital**

**8:15pm**

Amanda had yet to let go of Olivia's hand when they arrived at the hospital and had no intention of doing so even when she was taken from the stretcher to a bed. "Thanks for staying with me," she said, looking up at Olivia with a small smile.

"It's no problem." She looked up and saw Elliot enter the room. "See him?" She pointed to Elliot. "He's my partner and I promise that he won't hurt you."

Amanda looked over at him and slowly nodded, gripping Olivia's hand even tighter.

"I just called your mom Amanda and she's on her way over," he said, keeping a small distance.

"Great, she mumbled knowing that her mom was most likely going to blame her and tell her that she deserved this.

"Hi Amanda," a woman said as she walked into the room with a tray of instruments. "I'm Dr. Keating and I'll be doing…"

"What is that stuff," Amanda asked, pointing to the tray.

"She needs to do a rape kit on you Amanda," Olivia answered.

"Why?" Tears started to form in her eyes.

"It's used to check for any STD's, other injuries and to get a DNA sample from the person who rap…who did this to you," Olivia explained.

"I have an STD?!"

"Not necessarily, but the doctor needs to check to make sure."

"And I need to give you this," Dr. Keating interjected, showing Amanda a pill.

"What's that?"

"They call it the "morning after" pill Amanda. It prevents pregnancy."

"P…pregnancy?"

"Don't worry," the doctor said, "As long as you take that within 72 hours of being sexually assaulted there's an incredibly slim chance that you'll be pregnant. Ready for the exam?"

She looked over to Olivia. "Will you stay with me?"

"Of course. And if you're scared, you can squeeze my hand as hard as you need to…just don't try to break it," she said with a wink.

* * *

**Hospital**

**8:45pm**

"See that wasn't so terrible, now was it," Olivia said a few minutes after the doctor finished the exam.

Amanda shook her head and took the pill.

"Now Amanda I know this is probably the last thing you want to talk about," Olivia started as she nodded for Elliot to come into the room, "But I need you to tell us what happened to you tonight."

Before Amanda could start talking, she heard an all too familiar voice yelling from the hallway.

"Where is she? Where the hell is my daughter?"

"You must be Mrs. Meyer," Elliot said as he stepped out of the room and into the hall. He was met with a woman a little shorter than Olivia with dark hair like her daughter.

"Yes, I am. Who the hell are you?"

"Detective Stabler," he said. "Your daughter's in here."

"Thank you," she said. She walked into the room and over to Amanda. Well I warned you didn't I," she said to her daughter. "I told you something like this would happen if you wore those clothes, didn't I?"

"Mom I…" She was silenced by her mother's hand slapping her cheek so hard that it burned.

Olivia stood up, "There's no need to blame anyone except the guy who did this to your daughter, Mrs. Meyer." She flashed her badge at the woman before she could ask who she was.

"And who gave you permission to stay with her? She can hold her own you know," Lydia Meyer snapped.

Smelling the liquor in her breath, Olivia knew right away that the woman was drunk. "Your daughter asked me to stay here."

"Well you can leave now."

"We still need to ask your daughter a few questions regarding what happened."

"She was raped and she deserved it, what else do you want to know," she said, glaring at her daughter. If looks could kill Amanda would probably be pretty close to death by now.

"No one deserves…" Olivia began.

"Ask her tomorrow! I'm taking her home right now." She looked down at Amanda, "Come on get your clothes. We're going home."

Amanda did as she was told. As she walked out the door with her mother she looked back at Olivia, mouthing 'thank you' before her mother pulled her out of the room.

Olivia walked into the hall and watched the two leave. She sat down in one of the chairs.

Elliot sat down next to her. "You were great with her. She really trusts you."

"Yeah, a great deal of good that does," she said with sarcasm in her voice.

"Liv what's wrong?"

"What wrong? What's wrong is that woman! How the hell does she call herself a mother?" She shook her head and walked out of the hospital not wanting Elliot to see the tear that began to fall down her cheek.

Elliot followed her, "Liv stop."

She turned to look at him. "You know I'd really rather not talk right now. Can we just go back to the station?" She walked over to the car and got in.

Elliot sighed and got into the car and drove back to the station, glancing at Olivia every now and then. Something was eating at her. He just didn't know what that something was.

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I'm sure by now you see the little connection Olivia has to Amanda. And yes, there will be EO beginning to form as this goes on. Please review! I love to hear your input.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Thank you again to everyone who has reviewed this story so far. Fair warning: drama ahead!**

**Disclaimer: I still don't own any of the characters you see or hear about on SVU. I do however own Amanda and her mother (ha!). **

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**16****th**** Precinct**

**Same Night, 9:30pm**

Olivia got off of the elevator and walked over to her desk, not seeing Elliot's concerned face as he walked to his desk. She just wanted to get this night out of her mind.

"You all right there Liv," Fin asked when he saw her facial expression.

"Yeah I'm fine. It's just been a long night and I want to go home." She held the file for Amanda in her hands and just stared at it, recalling what had happened just before she got the young girl's statement.

"Hey," Elliot said, placing a hand on hers, "You sure you're okay?"

"I was thinking we could go to the house tomorrow morning if that's okay with you," she said ignoring his question.

"Okay we can do that. But you still didn't answer my question," he said, concern in his voice.

She looked up at him, "I know." She stood up and closed the case file and walked over to her locker to retrieve her bag. "I'll see you guys tomorrow," she said in a monotone voice. She got as far as the elevator before she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Liv, tell me what's going on," Elliot pleaded.

"We'll talk tomorrow," she said as she stepped onto the elevator, Elliot following her.

"What, now I need an escort to my car?"

"No, I'm just worried about you. Why won't you…"

"Just…leave it alone, okay?" She took a deep breath before speaking again, "I just…I can't talk about it right now." She walked out of the station and over to her car and took her keys out of her bag.

Wanting an answer, Elliot blocked her from unlocking the door. "What is going on with you? Why are you so on edge all of a sudden? Does this have something to do with that girl's mother?"

"I told you, I can't talk about it right now," she said, anger beginning to take over. "Now please move so I can get into my car."

"Not until you tell me what's going on here!" He was now yelling.

"Damn it Elliot, just leave it alone!" She could feel her voice beginning to break. "I just need to go home," she said quietly.

"Why won't you…"

"Shut up! Don't you know what 'leave it alone' means?" Unlocking her door, she got into the car and slammed the door, just missing his fingers.

Elliot waited until she had driven out of the parking lot to go back inside. "What the hell is going on," he asked himself quietly.

As she drove, Olivia couldn't stop thinking about what had happened to her when she was 16.

_**Flashback**_

"_You are to stop seeing him, do you understand me," her mother shouted._

_Olivia just glared at her mother. "You can't make me stop seeing him mother," she said as she began to walk to her bedroom._

"_The hell I can't!" She grabbed Olivia's arm, pulling her back towards her and slapped her cheek. _

_Putting her hand to her now red and burning cheek Olivia held back the tears that threatened to fall from her eyes. She wasn't about to show any sign of weakness in front of her. "At least he cares about me," she said softly._

"_How dare you say that," Serena hissed as she slammed Olivia against the wall, causing her to hit her head and fall to the floor. "You never say that again, do you understand?"_

_Barely able to see straight, let alone sit up, Olivia simply nodded, not wanting to have to go to the hospital, saying that she fell down a flight of steps…again. "I hate you!" She yelled before running to the door. She felt a hand on her arm, pulling her back again. "Stop! Mom, please, stop!"_

_**End Flashback**_

Hearing the honking of the car behind her quickly caused Olivia to come back to the present. She saw that the light had turned green. Driving home, Olivia could not stop the tears that were now streaming down her face.

Opening the door to her apartment, she set her bag and keys on the table and walked over to the sofa and cried softly into a pillow until she fell asleep.

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**16****th**** Precinct**

**8:00am, next morning**

Olivia took a deep breath as she walked into the squad room. "Where's Elliot," she asked John when she saw the empty desk that her partner usually occupied.

"The better question is what are you doing _here_? Elliot said you were meeting him at the Meyer house this morning to question the girl about what happened."

"He what?!"

"Are you all right," he asked when he saw the look on her face.

"I'm fine," she said through gritted teeth. Grabbing her coat, she stormed out of the squad room and to the elevator.

"Was that Olivia," Cragen asked as he came out of his office. "I thought she was at the house questioning Amanda."

"Apparently Elliot forgot to mention that little detail to her," John said as he got a cup of coffee. "This is awful; who made it?"

"You did," Don said as he walked back into his office. What was going on with those two?

"Remind me to never make coffee again," John said, turning to Fin.

"I remind you everyday old man."

"Right."

* * *

**Meyer House**

**9:00am**

Getting out of the car, Olivia saw the other sedan already sitting outside of the house. What was he trying to do? Get her fired? She walked up the steps to the porch and knocked on the door.

Glad to get away from both her mother and the male detective, Amanda hurried to the front door. "Olivia," she said looking relieved.

"Hi honey, how are you feeling this morning," she asked as Amanda let her into the house.

"A little better I guess," she said with a shrug. "Why didn't you come with him? He said you'd be here too."

"Uh…well I was a little late in getting to work," she said not wanting to involve the girl in her personal life. "Where are they?"

Pointing to what was most likely the den, she looked up at Olivia, "They're in there."

"Thanks." Walking with Amanda to the room, Olivia saw Elliot and Amanda's mother just sitting there. "Morning Elliot," Olivia said icily.

"Morning," he said, barely looking up at his partner.

Mrs. Meyer walked over to Olivia, "Maybe she'll talk to you. Lord knows she won't say anything to me…not after last night anyway."

Olivia looked over at Amanda who seemed to be glaring at her mother.

"So she hasn't said anything yet," Olivia asked, a smirk on her face. _I guess there are some things I'll always be better at_, she thought to herself.

"No. I've got to get back to the station." He stood up and walked past Olivia.

"El…"

"What?"

"Didn't you want to drive her to the station to get her statement?"

He looked outside. "You drove here didn't you?"

"Yes…"

He shrugged, "Looks like you're covered." He turned and walked out of the house.

"Well that was odd," Mrs. Meyer said, breaking the awkward silence.

Olivia looked over at Amanda, "I do still have to get your statement, honey. The faster we do, the faster we'll be able to get a description of him and get him off the streets."

"I…I can't," she said, starting to cry.

"For goodness sakes Amanda just give Miss Benson your 'statement.'"

"It's Detective," Olivia said seethed.

"I can't do it here?"

"You heard her, now go!" She grabbed Amanda's arm nearly threw her towards Olivia.

"You ready," Olivia said, trying her best to get what just happened out of her head. The child abuse charge would have to wait.

Amanda simply walked out of the house.

"I'll try to bring her back when we're done," Olivia said as she walked outside to where Amanda was standing, shaking and crying. "Come on sweetie," she said as she took Amanda's hand and walked her to the car.

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**16****th**** Precinct**

**10:30am**

"Elliot what the hell is going on between you and your partner," Cragen demanded.

"Good morning to you too," he answered coolly.

"Well?"

"Nothing. I guess there was some kind of miscommunication. Maybe Liv thought I meant to meet her at the house at 9:00 instead of 8:00."

"Work out whatever is going on. Understand? Or you're both going to be on desk duty until you do." He walked back into his office.

Elliot just sighed and sat down at his desk. Of course he wanted to work things out with Liv, but he couldn't do that if she wasn't going to open up to him. He heard the elevator ding and saw Olivia walk out with Amanda in tow. "Liv I…"

"Amanda why don't you go with John here and he'll show you where we're going to talk. I just need to get a few things real fast okay?"

"Okay," she said softly.

"I'll show you something really cool about the room," John said as he walked Amanda back.

Waiting until they were in the room, Olivia turned her attention to Elliot. "What are you trying to do, huh? You don't want me as a partner anymore, is that it?"

"Of course not."

"Then why didn't you tell me when to meet you or just wait for me to get here to go over to the house?"

"Think we can talk about that later," he asked, seeing their co-workers looking at them.

"Fine," Olivia said. She walked back to the interview room where Amanda was waiting. She took a deep breath before going in. "Sorry about that."

"It's okay," Amanda said.

"Thanks John."

"No problem. Now remember Amanda, at any moment we really could see the ships starting to…"

"Munch!"

"Okay I'm going. Yeesh."

Closing the door behind him, Olivia looked at Amanda. "Just ignore his little theories. None of them have come true yet."

"I kind of figured that part out."

"Anyway," Olivia said as she sat down across from Amanda, "What do you remember about last night?"

She ran her hands through her hair and looked down at the table. "I was walking home from a choir rehearsal and figured I'd take a short cut. That alley is only a few blocks from my house," Amanda said, fresh tears slowly coming down. Olivia handed her a box of tissues. "It's only a few blocks from my house! I could have gotten home!" She grabbed a tissue and wiped her eyes. "Why did I do something so stupid? If I had just taken the bus or even walked my normal route home then this wouldn't have happened to me," she cried.

"Amanda listen to me," Olivia said, taking her hand. "This was not your fault. Do you understand? You didn't want this to happen. Sometimes we're just in the wrong place at the wrong time, but this wasn't your fault. You need to know that and believe that."

She nodded. "So as I was walking down the alley this guy came up from behind me and put his hand on my mouth and said that if I screamed or made any sound that he'd kill me. He had this switchblade with him and held it to my neck until I nodded. Then he turned me around and pushed me against the wall. And then he…he…he…" Holding her hand over her mouth, she ran to the garbage can and threw up.

Olivia held her hair and rubbed her back. "It's okay honey."

"I…I'm sorry I didn't mean to do that," she said, looking at Olivia with fear in her eyes. "Please don't hurt me," she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

"It's all right. Don't worry about it."

Amanda nodded, looking a bit relieved. She sat back down at the table. "After he pushed me against the wall, he…" There was a long pause. "…raped me." Taking another deep breath, she spoke again. "When he was finished, I started to cry. I guess I cried a little too loudly since he took the knife back out and cut me with it." She pointed to the leg, which was now wrapped up in gauze. "Then he said to me if I told anyone, especially the cops, that I'd regret it. Then he kicked me and left. I waited about half an hour before I called anyone." She shook her head, "That's all I can remember. I'm sorry."

"That's fine Amanda. You did a really good job. I know that was hard. Do you know what he looked like?"

"I didn't see his face. He had on some kind of mask. But I think his eyes were brown. And he had some kind of tattoo on his arm of a snake. Does that help at all?"

"Yes, it does. Good job honey." As much as it pained her to say this, she knew she had to. "Ready to go back home?"

"I guess so," she said looking down at the table.

Olivia opened the door, making sure Grayleck and Cragen heard everything. "Come on," she said to the teen.

"Hang on," Elliot said. "I'll go with you."

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**Meyer House**

**12:00pm**

Walking up to the house seemed like the longest walk for her. Amanda put her key in the lock and opened the door. She turned to Olivia, "Thanks."

Olivia nodded and waited for her to get inside. She walked back to the car and looked at Elliot. "Hi."

"You okay?"

She sighed, "El I'm really sorry about last night. It's just…what she did to her daughter…my mom used to do the same thing to me when I was her age. Actually she did it to me from when I was really little. It was the drinking."

"And Amanda's mother reminded you of your mom?" He placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Yeah," she said, letting a small sob out. "Everyday. She was drunk when she did. I was afraid she was going to kill me." She cried into his shoulder.

"Why didn't you tell me before?" He asked as he gently kissed her cheek.

"I was afraid to I guess. I'm sorry."

"It's okay."

She sat back up and wiped her eyes. "We should probably get back."

He nodded, "Good idea. Don't want Munch to think the aliens got us," he said with a wink.

As they walked back into the squad room, Cragen walked over to them. "You have to get back to that house now. And take a uniformed officer with you."

"What's up?"

"Amanda. I guess right after you two left, her mother really let her have it." He looked over at Olivia. "Think you can handle this?"

"Yes," she said, anger eminent in her voice.

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Okay so that was a lot longer than I thought it was! But it did leave you with a cliffhanger. Is Amanda going to be okay? Where's she going to go now? And what's going to happen with Elliot and Olivia? Hopefully I'll have the next chapter up tomorrow evening or Tuesday evening! Please review!


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: It is FREEZING outside! I think it's literally 0 degrees****! Anyway, thank you again to those who reviewed. I know what you're about to read may not be very accurate, but then again it is a story. =) **

**Disclaimer: I still don't own them. Amanda's mine however.**

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_**Previously:**_

_As they walked back into the squad room, Cragen walked over to them. "You have to get back to that house now. And take a uniformed officer with you."_

"_What's up?"_

"_Amanda. I guess right after you two left, her mother really let her have it." He looked over at Olivia. "Think you can handle this?"_

"_Yes," she said, anger eminent in her voice._

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Olivia grabbed the keys that were sitting on Elliot's desk and walked out of the squad room.

"Liv hang on," Elliot called out as he walked over to her. "You want me to drive," he asked when they got down to the car.

"No." She waited for Elliot to get into the car before driving off, tires squealing.

"I know you're angry, Liv but do you think you could slow down a bit? I'd…" He shut up when he saw the glare she shot at him. "Okay."

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**Meyer House**

**12:45pm**

Upon pulling up to the house, Olivia quickly got out of the car and walked up the steps to the house while Elliot spoke to the arresting officer.

"What's going to happen," Elliot asked the officer.

"She did quite a number on her daughter, so we're going to put her in jail tonight and she'll probably be arraigned tomorrow," he said.

Walking into the house, Olivia saw Amanda sitting on the stairs, her knees pulled up to her chest and her head buried in her arms. She was shaking as she cried silently.

"I'll take it from here," Olivia said to the female officer who was attempting to get Amanda to talk about what happened.

"Good luck. She won't say anything to me. She just kept calling for someone named Olivia."

Olivia pulled out her badge and showed it to the officer. "That would be me."

She nodded, clearly embarrassed. "Oh… I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it," she said, shaking her head. "Where is she hurt," Olivia asked as she pulled the officer aside.

"Let's just say that she's lucky she doesn't need to go to the hospital for any broken bones…but from what I could see, she is pretty badly bruised. She wouldn't let anyone examine her." She shook her head, "I really don't understand why people do this to their own children," she said as she looked over at Amanda.

"I don't either." Olivia smiled sadly at her, "Thanks for trying to help her."

"Of course," she said before walking away.

Olivia walked up to the step where Amanda was sitting. "Hi there." She placed a hand on Amanda's back, causing her to flinch and cringe. She took her hand off her back. "Amanda, what happened?"

Looking up with tear stained cheeks and red eyes, Amanda simply shook her head. "I don't know," she said hoarsely. "I don't know what I did that was so wrong." She placed her head on Olivia's shoulder and started to cry. Slowly picking up her arms, she placed them around Olivia's neck and held her. "What did I do wrong," she asked through her tears.

Olivia did the only thing she could think of. She gently placed her arms around Amanda and just held her. "You didn't do anything wrong," she said quietly, stroking her hair.

Amanda pulled away after a few minutes of letting her pent up feelings out. "After you dropped me off this morning, she was asleep. I hate it when she drinks and I've asked her to stop…all she does is yell at me though. So I found her hiding places for her alcohol and I tried to get rid of it…" She took a deep breath, "But she woke up and saw me and started yelling at me and hitting me. I guess one of our neighbors heard her yelling since the police came. I just wanted to help her get better," she cried, putting her head back into Olivia's shoulder.

"I know honey," she said softly. "You love her and you wanted to do the right thing."

Elliot walked up to the two after talking with the officer. "How is she doing," he asked as Olivia got up and walked over to him.

She shrugged, "Not well. So what's going to happen with her mom?"

"She'll be in police custody tonight and then tomorrow she'll be arraigned. She'll probably be found guilty of child endangerment and abuse…which means jail time."

"What?" Amanda looked up at the two detectives. "She's going to jail? But…where am I supposed to go?"

"Don't worry about that right now," Elliot said gently.

Amanda shook her head, "I don't have any other family though! My dad died and I don't have any aunts or uncles."

"Why don't we get back to the station," Olivia suggested, putting her arm around Amanda's shoulders. "We'll figure things out from there."

* * *

**16****th**** Precinct**

**2:00pm**

Olivia set the phone back on its cradle. "Well that was fun." She looked up at Elliot, "None of her living relatives want anything to do with her and we probably have her mother to thank for that."

"Looks like she's going into the system," Elliot said as he set the file he was reading down.

"She's 16 years old, El. Who's going to want to adopt a 16 year old?"

"Someone will find a good home for her," Fin said from behind Olivia. "If only there were more people like you out there who cared so much about her."

"Hmm, that could work," she said as she stood up.

"Uh, no offense Liv, but I wasn't exactly talking about you adopting her…"

She looked at Fin, "Why not? I could at least try to have her stay with me for a few days, until this whole mess gets sorted out." Without waiting for a response from her co-workers, she got up and walked over to Cragen's office and knocked on the door.

"Come in."

Olivia opened the door and found Kim sitting in one of the chairs in front of Cragen's desk. "I have an idea as to what we can do with Amanda since her mother is in custody."

"We were just about to call ACS," Kim said. "They'll be able to…"

"I'd like for her to come stay with me for a while," she said, not allowing Kim to finish her sentence.

Don looked up at Olivia. "Olivia I know you've developed a bond with her, but you've really got to think about this."

"Besides I don't think ACS would allow you to take her in."

"Why's that," Olivia asked as she crossed her arms.

"Well first of all you work all the time. How will you be able to take care of her if you're never home?"

Olivia sat down in defeat. She knew Kim was right. How would she be able to take care of her?

"Cap we got him," John said as he knocked on the door and let himself in. "We found the guy from the description Amanda provided and his DNA matches perfectly."

"How'd you get him to give you a DNA sample," Olivia asked.

"After his alibi fell through," he said, a grin on his face.

"Great, now all we need is for Amanda to I.D. him," Kim said. "Should be a slam dunk case."

Olivia stood up, "I'll go tell Amanda."

"Liv this is good news. Why do you sound so depressed," Don asked.

"You really think she's just going to walk into the room and point him out? She's scared to death of this guy. She's convinced that he's going to kill her." She opened the door and walked into the crib where they were letting Amanda take a nap after what had happened.

Olivia sat down at the foot of the bed. "Amanda," she said quietly, gently rubbing her arm.

"Hmm?"

"I uh…have some good news for you. The guy who raped you…he was arrested this morning."

Amanda sat up quickly. "No! Now he's going to try to kill me!" She yelled, hiding her face in Olivia's shoulder.

"No honey, he's not. He's in custody right now which means he can't do anything to you or to anyone else."

Amanda slowly sat back up. "Promise?"

"Yes, I promise you, he isn't going to hurt you again. There's just one thing that we need you to do."

"What's that?"

"We need you to identify him in a line-up," she said gently.

She shook her head no. "I can't! I told you, if he sees me again he's going to kill me! Please don't make me do this Olivia, please!"

"Sweetie he's not going to see you. He won't be able to. You will be able to see him, but all he'll see is himself. It's a one-way mirror, just like the interview room you were in this morning. And he won't be able to hear you."

Sniffling, she wiped her eyes and slowly calmed down. "Will you come with me?"

"Of course I will. I was planning on doing that anyway." She gave Amanda a small smile.

"Okay," she said after a minute. "I'll do it."

Olivia nodded and stood up and walked to the door, gesturing over at Amanda to do the same thing.

Taking her hand, Amanda walked with Olivia out of the crib and into the squad room.

"It's this way," Olivia said, nodding to Grayleck and Cragen.

They walked into a small room and waited for the five guys to come out.

"All you have to do is say the number of the man who you think raped you," Kim said.

"But I didn't see his face. He was wearing a mask."

"Can you identify his voice," Olivia asked.

"Yes," she said, starting to shiver. She never wanted to hear that awful voice again. "I remember him saying, 'If you tell anyone, you'll regret it.'"

"All right, so we'll do a voice I.D.," Kim said as she turned to the man's lawyer who rolled her eyes and nodded.

As the five men entered the room, Amanda hid behind Olivia. "I can't do it," she said barely above a whisper.

"Yes you can," Olivia said as she placed her hands on Amanda's shoulders. Remember he can't see you. You can only see him."

"You ready," Kim asked Amanda.

"I guess so."

Amanda closed her eyes and listened as the first guy said what she remembered hearing. It wasn't until she heard man number four say those words that she opened them and stared at the man. "Him," she said, shaking.

"What number," Kim asked.

"N…number f…f…four." She swallowed hard. "He's the man that raped me."

"Looks like we'll be seeing you in court," Kim said to the man's lawyer.

"Did I do all right?"

"You did a great job." Olivia put her arms around Amanda.

Upon seeing this interaction, Kim took a few moments to think. "Uh you know that thing we were discussing before?"

Olivia nodded, "Yes."

"Maybe I can arrange it."

She smiled at the A.D.A. "Thanks Kim."

"Arrange what," Amanda asked as they left the room.

They walked into one of the interview rooms. "Well I was thinking that maybe, just until this whole mess is behind us, that you could stay with me. Only if you want to that is and then…"

"Yes!" She hugged Olivia tightly.

"Okay then," she said in a strained voice. "Just one thing."

"Yeah," Amanda said, still hugging her.

"Think you can maybe loosen your grip just a bit?"

Amanda giggled softly and sat back down. "Sorry."

"We can get a few things from your house later this evening, sound good?"

She nodded. "Olivia," she said after a brief pause.

"Yeah?"

"Do you think I can stay with you longer than just until this whole thing is done?"

"How long," Olivia asked.

"Like…forever?"

"Uh…let's wait until after everything to talk about that, okay?" She couldn't get what Kim had said to her earlier out of her head.

She nodded, "Okay. Thank you." For the first time since she could remember, Amanda actually felt safe.

"So she's really going to stay with you," Elliot said when he saw Olivia return to her desk.

"Yeah, she really is."

He smiled, "Good for you, Liv. You know you're the only one she's talked to since this started? She'll say a few words to us, but won't let us in. ACS will probably…"

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves here."

"Okay," Kim said as she joined the two. "She can stay with you at least until the trial is over."

"Thanks Kim." Olivia tried to hide her happiness, but it was impossible. Her smile was a mile wide.

"Congratulations, mommy," John said as he patted her on the back. "You have a kid and you didn't even have to go through 19 hours of labor and…"

"Shut up John," Olivia said as she threw a ball of paper at him.

"That wasn't very 'mommy-like,'" he said sternly with a hint of sarcasm. "Okay, okay," he said when he saw the glare Olivia was giving him.

* * *

**Olivia's Apartment**

**8:00pm**

"You can just set your stuff in that room over there," Olivia said, pointing to the spare bedroom.

"Okay, thanks." Amanda placed her bag on the bed and looked over at the nightstand. There was a picture on it of two people. One of them had to be Olivia. She looked like she was just a little younger than Amanda in the picture. The other woman had to be her mother.

"Everything okay in here," Olivia asked as she walked into the room. She saw Amanda holding the picture.

"Is this you?"

She nodded, "Yeah. I was about 12 when that was taken."

"And is this your mom?"

"Yeah, that's her."

Amanda smiled at the picture. "You two look close."

"Yeah well…that's what pictures are for. To make something look like one thing when it's really the opposite." She sat down on the bed next to Amanda.

"You mean you weren't close?"

"Well there were times when we were, but for the most part, not really."

"How about now? Are you guys closer?"

She shook her head, "No she uh…she passed away about eight years ago."

"Oh," she said quietly.

"It was an accident really. She fell down a flight of steps. It wouldn't have happened had she been sober," Olivia said as she took the picture and looked at it.

"Your mom too?"

"Yeah," she said in a whisper. "I grew up in a very similar household as you." She placed the picture back on the nightstand. "So," she said as she cleared her throat, "Are you hungry?"

"A little. I haven't really eaten since 'it' happened."

Before Olivia could say anything, there was a knock at the door. She walked to the door and peered out the peephole and had a look of bewilderment on her face. "Elliot? What are you doing here?"

"I figured that since you came straight home after work that you hadn't eaten yet. So I brought a little something over."

She smiled, "Wow incredibly sweet and a mind reader," she said as she looked over at Amanda who had just stepped out of the bedroom. "Dinner's here," Olivia said with a little smile. She looked back at Elliot, "Thanks. You want to stay?"

"If that's okay with you," he said to Amanda.

"It's fine." She walked over to the two and sat down. She liked Elliot. There was something very fatherly about him.

* * *

Okay I'm leaving it there for tonight. I figured I wouldn't put a cliffhanger in there this time. Don't worry, the story's not over yet. The next chapter will deal with the trial…and some more EO. So, do you think Olivia will be able to actually adopt Amanda? Please review! And thank you for reading!


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Good evening! First, I just wanted to say that this might be my last chapter for a little while. I'm going out of town on the 26****th**** and won't be home until the 29****th****. I don't think I'll have much access to a computer. I'll try to post another chapter tomorrow evening though. Again, thank you to everyone who has reviewed so far. It really means a lot to me!**

**A/N #2: Anything that sounds negative about Kim isn't because I don't like her; I would have written the same thing if it were Casey or Alex. Just wanted you to know that!**

**Disclaimer: I still don't own the characters (except for Amanda; she's mine) and probably never will.**

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* * *

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**Olivia's Apartment**

**7:45am – Three days later**

Amanda sat at the kitchen table and moved her breakfast around with her fork.

"You need to eat something hon," Olivia said as she walked into the kitchen and saw that Amanda's breakfast was still relatively untouched.

"I don't want to," she said quietly.

Olivia sat down next to her. "You still nervous about today?"

She nodded, "I don't want to testify," she said as tears rolled down her face.

"I know you don't honey, but if we want to put this loser behind bars, then your testimony is needed. There's a chance that this won't even make it to trial. This is only the Grand Jury testimony that you'll be giving," she explained.

"Will he be able to see me," she asked as she started to shake a bit.

"No. The only people in the room will be the Judge, the Grand Jury and if you want, I can be in there."

"I want you in there."

"Then I'll be there. Now eat something before your stomach does all the talking for you."

Amanda giggled softly and slowly started to eat her breakfast. "Will Elliot be there too," she asked as she took another bite.

"If you want him to be there I can check to see if he can. He may have to work another case though."

"You like him, don't you?"

Amanda's comment caused Olivia to nearly choke on the tea she was drinking. "Of course I do," she said when she was done coughing. "He's my best friend."

"I didn't mean like him as a friend. You have a crush on him, don't you?" A small smile came across her face.

"I think you should go get dressed for today," she said, wanting to change the subject.

Getting up, Amanda couldn't help but notice that Olivia was blushing.

* * *

**A.D.A. Kim Grayleck's Office**

**9:30am**

"Just remember to tell the jury everything okay," Kim said to a rather nervous looking Amanda.

"And I really won't see him there?"

She shook her head no. "He won't be in the room. The only time you'll ever have to see him is if this case goes to trial."

"But Olivia said that there's a chance that it won't." Amanda looked up at Olivia.

Kim looked over at Olivia as well. "Can I talk to you for a second please? Out there?"

"Okay." Olivia followed Kim into the outer office.

"Why did you tell her that?"

"Tell her what?"

"That this may not go to trial. What if it does? Thanks to you, she's not going to be prepared."

"Excuse me Kim, but I said the case _might _not go to trial. I didn't tell her that it's a slam-dunk. You're the one who told us that after the DNA matched," Olivia said, her voice beginning to rise.

She let out an exasperated sigh. "Fine, whatever. But if she isn't able to give her testimony, I'm blaming you." She turned and opened the door to her office and went back inside.

Olivia wanted kick something…or someone rather, but took the high road and simply followed Kim back into the office and sat back down right as her cell phone rang. "I'll be right back," she said as she stepped out of the office. She opened the phone. "Benson."

"Hey Liv it's me," Elliot said from the other end.

"Hey," she said, relieved to hear his voice.

"Everything all right? You sound a little stressed."

"More like a little irritated," she said, looking into the office.

"What happened?" He asked, now concerned.

She sighed, "Just the fact that Kim's going to blame me if Amanda isn't able to testify this morning."

"First off, Amanda will do just fine. Second, she's not going to blame you since Amanda is going to be fine. Which brings me to the reason why I'm calling."

"Oh?"

"Cragen has me and Fin interviewing suspects on the Ludlow case."

"Okay…what happened to John?"

"Who knows; he came in this morning with a cast on his arm though."

She laughed, "Skydiving again?"

"I wouldn't put it past him. Anyway I'm not going to be able to be at the hearing this morning. Let us know what happens though okay?"

She nodded, forgetting he couldn't see her. "Yeah, I'll let you know. Listen I have to go. I'm being summoned back into the office."

"All right. Tell Amanda I said good luck and that she'll be fine."

She smiled, "I will." She flipped the phone shut and walked back into the office. "What's up?"

"I think we're just about ready," Kim said as she grabbed Amanda's file. She looked at Amanda, "Just remember to answer the questions and you'll be fine," she said, hoping to reassure the teen.

Amanda looked over at Olivia, "You'll be in there right?"

"You know I will."

"And Elliot?"

"That was him on the phone. He can't make it but he says good luck and that you're going to do just fine."

She nodded, "Thanks Olivia." She wrapped her arms around her.

"You're more than welcome," she said as she hugged her back.

"We really need to go," Kim said.

"Let's go then," Olivia said. Taking Amanda's hand, they headed for the courtroom.

* * *

**Grand Jury Testimony**

**10:30am**

After being sworn in, Kim stood up and walked to the podium. "Amanda will you please tell the jury, in your own words what happened a week ago?"

Amanda looked over at Olivia who simply nodded. She took a deep breath and looked back at Kim. "I was walking home from my choir practice and decided to take a shortcut through an alley. Before I was halfway through, a guy came up to me and held a knife to my throat and said that if I screamed, he'd kill me." She wiped her eyes as she recalled the events. Taking a deep breath, she continued. "After that, he made me get on the ground and he…raped me. When he finished, he could hear me crying and cut my leg before leaving."

"When did you call the police?"

"About half an hour after it happened."

Kim nodded, "Thank you Amanda."

"You did a great job," Olivia said as they walked into the hall.

"Thanks…when will…" She stopped when she looked down the hall.

Olivia looked to where Amanda's eyes were. "Oh no."

"You said I wasn't going to see him!" She yelled at both Kim and Olivia.

"You weren't supposed to," Kim said, giving his attorney a look.

Amanda looked at Olivia. "You lied to me! You said I wouldn't see him today!" She ran to a nearby bathroom.

"Amanda!" Olivia sighed and followed her into the bathroom. "Amanda please come out," she said, looking for her in each stall. "I didn't lie to you," she said, still looking for her.

"Then why did I see him," came a soft voice from the corner stall. Amanda came out and walked over to the wall and sat down on the floor.

"I don't know," Olivia said, joining her on the floor. "But I do know that I did not lie to you."

Amanda placed her head on Olivia's shoulder. "I just got so scared. I thought he was going to attack me again."

Olivia reached up and grabbed a paper towel and handed it to Amanda. "He's never going to hurt you again."

"How can you promise that when the jury could find him not guilty?"

"Because they did find him guilty," Kim said from the door. "Verdict just came in."

Olivia stood up. "And the trial?"

She shook her head, "We don't need to go to trial."

"You mean…It's over?" Amanda stood up and looked at Kim.

"Yeah, it's over Amanda." Kim gave her a small smile. "See you later," she said to Olivia.

"Kim."

"Yeah?"

"Thanks…and I'm sorry about earlier."

"Don't' worry about it," she said. "I have some paperwork to file so I'll really see you later."

Olivia turned to Amanda, "Want to get out of here?"

"Hell yeah. I mean…yes."

Olivia laughed. "Come on."

* * *

**16****th**** Precinct**

**2:00pm**

"I am never letting you interview that suspect again," Cragen said as Elliot walked out of the interview room and back into the squad room.

"Captain he raped and tried to kill three women!"

"And as of right now, he's only a suspect. We don't know for sure if he did it."

"I never thought I'd live to see the day when you of all people stands up for a perp," Elliot said incredulously.

"Elliot let it go," Fin said as he walked into the squad room.

"Are we interrupting something," Olivia asked from behind the trio.

"Jeez Liv are you trying to give us a heart attack here," Cragen said as he sat down.

"How'd it go," Elliot asked, changing the subject.

"He's guilty. There's not even a need to go to trial."

Elliot smiled, "That's great." He looked at Amanda, "I'm sure you'll be able to sleep better at night now."

"Yeah, I guess," she said somewhat glumly.

"What's wrong honey?"

"Nothing."

"Come with me," Olivia said as she took Amanda by the hand and led her upstairs. "What's really wrong?"

Amanda sighed, "It's just…now that this mess is over, that means I have to go into foster care, doesn't it?" She asked as she studied the tiles on the floor. "I know my mom doesn't want me. She didn't even want to keep me when she found out she was pregnant. But her mom made her keep me." She looked up at Olivia. "You know she's never, not even in front of my grandparents said that she loves me?" She shook her head, "No one wants me."

"And you know this how," Olivia asked.

"My mom told me." She sniffled. "I just wish I could stay with you. I don't want to go into foster care." She placed her head in her hands and cried softly.

"Yeah, about that…"

"I know, I know. You can't right?"

"Actually I was going to say that I was thinking about talking to ACS about maybe adopting you." She paused, smiling to herself. "But hey, if you don't want to do this…"

"I do! I'll even talk to them myself if I have to," she said, a smile now on her face.

Olivia smiled, "Relax you don't have to do that. I'll do that part."

She nodded. "Um I need to use the restroom."

"It's downstairs. Make a right when you leave the squad room."

"Thanks." Amanda walked downstairs, but she didn't go to the bathroom. Instead she walked over to Elliot's desk. His head was buried in paperwork. "Ahem."

He looked up. "Hey there," he said with a smile. "What's up?" He put the file he was reading down.

"Can you do me a favor?"

He nodded, "Sure, just name it."

"Ask Olivia out on a date."

"Excuse me," he said, dropping his pen.

"I know you like her and I think you make her happy." She smiled, knowing she was right. She then saw Olivia start walking down the steps. "I'll be back." She rushed out of the squad room.

Elliot looked up at Olivia, not exactly sure what to think of what had just happened. "You look happy," he said when he saw the look on her face.

"I'm going to talk to ACS and see if Amanda can stay with me…permanently. She seems open to the idea."

"That's not all she's open to," he muttered.

"What was that?"

"I said that's what she's hoping too." He gave her an innocent smile.

She gave him an odd look and sat down at her desk. "Are you feeling okay?"

"I'm fine," he said, thinking about what Amanda had just told him.

She gave him another look but dismissed it and began some paperwork.

"Are you busy this Friday?" He asked out of the blue.

"Not to my knowledge," she said, not looking up. "Why? Got a hot date you want me to meet?"

"Sort of. If she says yes that is."

She looked up. "Say that again?"

"Want to go out on Friday night?"

"With you?"

"No with John. Yes with me."

Olivia could feel her face becoming red. Did he just call her 'hot'? Indirectly anyway? "Uh sure. I guess."

"Great." He smiled.

Amanda walked back into the room and sat down in the chair next to Olivia's desk. "When are you going to call?"

"I was thinking of calling in a few days," Olivia said.

"A few days? But they could take me away in a few days."

"They won't do that Amanda. Besides they'd have to tell me first before they just show up and take you…which they won't." She turned back to her paperwork.

Amanda just frowned before going back upstairs.

* * *

And I'm done for tonight. Hope you liked it! So, will ACS allow Olivia to keep Amanda? And how will Elliot and Olivia's date turn out? Please review and thank you for reading!


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: As always, thank you for your wonderful reviews! Also this will probably be the last chapter (I might write one tomorrow, I'm not sure yet) until Tuesday or so, since I'm going out of town on Friday. **

**A/N #2: I'm changing the ages of Maureen and Kathleen. Maureen is 18 and Kathleen is 16. It helps with the chapter. You'll see…**

**Disclaimer: As much as I'd love to, I still don't own anything except Amanda.**

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**Olivia's Apartment**

**Friday, 5:00pm**

Olivia looked at the outfit on the hanger she was holding. "No," she said as she placed it back into her closet. She didn't think she'd be this nervous. This was Elliot who she was going to dinner with, not some blind date.

Amanda walked into the room and sat on the bed. "I like the green one."

"Amanda you scared me," Olivia said, turning around quickly. She looked in her closet at the green pants suit. "This one?"

"Yeah. I think you should just be you, you know?"

Taking it out and looking at it, Olivia thought for a moment and then held it up to her as she looked in the mirror. "Yeah, I like it too." She smiled, "Thanks."

"No problem." She got up to leave.

"Amanda, hang on."

She sat back down, "Yeah?"

"The last couple of days you've been kind of distant. Is everything okay?" She joined her on the bed.

"Sort of."

"Explain 'sort of.'"

Amanda looked at Olivia, "What if they say I can't stay here?"

"You mean ACS?"

"Yeah. I heard you on the phone with that social worker yesterday. You were practically yelling at her."

Olivia sighed, "Well she was trying to tell me that you would be better off in a home that has at least one parent home more often than I'm home."

"What? But I'm fine here when you're at work."

"I know, but they just want to make sure that you're placed in the best care possible for you."

"Isn't this working out though," Amanda asked with a worried tone.

She shrugged, "I certainly think so, as does pretty much everyone I work with. But Children Services is an entirely different ballgame."

"I'm beginning to really not like them."

"I'm with you on that one," Olivia said with a small smile. "Now didn't you have some sort of writing assignment you had to do for your English class?"

She rolled her eyes, "Olivia it's Friday and it was my first day back since…well you know. Shouldn't I be getting a break here?"

"Isn't that what you said this morning when you got to school?"

Amanda groaned, "You sound like my mom."

"And that's bad because…"

She shrugged, "It's not bad." She actually liked this side of Olivia. Her own mother could care less about how she did in school or about what her assignments were. "I uh…did get a test back in Math today that I took a couple of weeks ago."

"How'd you do on it," Olivia asked as she got up to find earrings that matched the outfit she decided to wear…well the outfit Amanda picked out for her to wear that is.

"I got a B+." She ducked, waiting for the yelling to start. Even though her mom didn't really care, she figured her daughter should be perfect in school and get straight A's.

Olivia turned around and smiled, "That's great. Why are you on the floor?"

"You're not mad?" She slowly got up.

"No of course not. Why would I be mad? A B+ is a good grade. You should be proud of yourself." Olivia walked into the bathroom and changed her clothes.

"Thanks." She took a deep breath and waited for Olivia to return. "I also got a World Studies test back today."

"How'd you do in that?"

"Well see here's the thing. My teacher sort of caught me looking at someone else's paper and…"

"Hang on," she said, stopping Amanda from going any further. "You cheated on a test?"

"It was a really hard test!"

Before Olivia could say anything, there was a knock at the door. Walking out into the hall, she turned to face Amanda. "That isn't an excuse."

"But…"

Olivia opened the door. "Elliot."

He smiled, "Hello to you too."

"Sorry," she said, still thinking about what Amanda had just told her. "Come on in."

"You look great," he said as he stepped into the apartment.

"Thanks. You look nice too." She grabbed her purse and saw Amanda walk into the hall. "We'll talk more about this when I get back."

Elliot looked from Olivia to Amanda. "Is there something I should know about?"

"No," both women said in unison.

"Okay…" He turned to Olivia, "Ready?"

"Yeah."

Amanda went into the bedroom and lay down on the bed. Part of her was glad that Olivia cared so much about how she was doing in school, but the other part hated the consequences.

* * *

**Restaurant**

**6:30pm**

"This is a cute place," Olivia said as they were seated.

"I thought you might like it."

"What made you want to ask me out," Olivia asked, finally breaking the awkward silence.

He shrugged, "I just felt it was the right time to ask you."

"Really?"

"Well I may have gotten a nudge from someone."

She sat back, "And who would that be?"

He shook his head, "Sorry I can't reveal my sources."

"What?" She asked, trying not to laugh. "Hang on, did Munch put you up to this?'

"No, he didn't. And no one put me up to anything."

"Then who was it?" She looked at him expectedly.

"I can't just simply ask you out?"

She blushed, "Well whoever it was, tell them thank you for me."

"I'll do that," he said smiling.

* * *

**Olivia's Apartment (outside the door)**

**11:00pm**

"I had a really nice time tonight," Olivia said as they approached the door to her apartment.

He smiled, "I did too." He slowly moved closer to her and kissed her tenderly on the lips.

Though she was surprised that he had kissed her, she did like it. And she returned the kiss.

"I take that as a yes to wanting to go out again," he said when they parted.

She smiled and nodded, "Yeah I'd really like that."

"Great."

"I'm shocked that neither one of our cell phones rang during…"

He placed his hand over her mouth. "You're going to jinx us."

She giggled, "Right." She was about to unlock the door, but turned around and faced him again. "What would you do if one of your kids cheated on a test?"

"I'd probably ground them. Why do you ask?"

"I'm just curious."

"Is everything okay Liv?"

"Yeah, fine." She smiled.

He shook his head. "Yeah you try to smile your way out of everything, don't you?"

She shook her head, still smiling and unlocked the door only to find Amanda lying on the couch, fast asleep.

"Think she tried to wait up for us," Elliot asked as he closed the door behind him.

Hearing the door close, Amanda slowly opened her eyes, "How was dinner," she asked as she yawned.

"It was nice…and thank you," Elliot said.

Olivia looked at the two. "Wait, she suggested this?"

"Yes she did."

"Are you mad," Amanda asked, seeing Olivia's face.

"No, I just can't believe you didn't actually ask me out on your own." She said, looking at Elliot. "I was only joking when I said that earlier," she said, shaking her head. She tried to hide her smile, but that proved to be impossible.

"I should get going," Elliot said after a minute. "I'll see you on Monday. Maybe sooner."

"Bye," Olivia said playfully pushing him out the door.

Before completely walking out, he turned around and kissed her one more time. "Bye," he whispered.

Olivia closed the door. "How was your evening?"

Amanda shrugged, "Boring. I started my writing assignment."

"You did?" She didn't think she had that much of an impact on Amanda when she told her to start it earlier.

"Yeah."

Olivia walked over to the sofa to see what she wrote. "This is good." She looked up. "Have you been crying?" She asked when she saw Amanda's red eyes.

She shrugged.

"Amanda, talk to me."

"It's just…my mom's never cared about how I did in school…just that I always get A's on everything."

"Well I care. No matter how hard something is you can't cheat your way out of it. It'll only lead to trouble."

Before either one could say anything more, Olivia's cell phone rang.

"Benson."

"Olivia you and Elliot need to come in. There's been a rape." Cragen said from the other end. "The victim was raped and beaten pretty badly."

She took a deep breath and sighed. "Okay I'll be right there." She hung up and turned around. "I've got to go in. I'm not sure when I'll be back, so since you're practically asleep, why don't you climb into bed and get some sleep?"

"Okay. Olivia?"

"Yeah?"

"Will you wake me up when you get back? Just so I know you got back all right?" Amanda had asked Olivia to do this each night she had been called in on a case.

"Sure." She walked to the door. "Amanda."

"Hmm?"

"Don't be afraid to ask for help on schoolwork okay?"

She nodded, "Okay."

Olivia left the apartment, dreading having to deal with this case.

* * *

**Crime Scene**

**11:45pm**

Getting out of the car, Olivia wasn't surprised to see Elliot. "Hey."

"Hi," he said in an abnormally quiet voice.

"So…what happened?"

"19 year old was found in the dumpster. It looks like she was beaten within an inch of her life."

After she collected the evidence and handed it to the officer, she walked back over to Elliot.

She looked around, "Witnesses?"

"Only one," he said, barely making eye contact.

"Elliot?"

He cleared his throat and gestured to the sidewalk where a young woman was sitting.

Olivia's jaw dropped. "Maureen?"

"Yeah."

"Have you asked her what happened yet?"

"She's the one who called me and told me that something had happened. I haven't really gotten into that part of the questioning yet," he said, still unable to completely look Olivia in the eye.

"Want me to…"

He took a deep breath, "Would you?" He looked at her briefly.

"Of course." She placed a hand on his shoulder and walked over to Maureen. "Hi Maureen," she said softly.

Maureen, whose face was tear stained, looked up at Olivia. "Hi," she choked out.

"Mind if I sit down?"

She shook her head no.

Olivia sat down and looked over at Maureen. "Do you uh…do you know her?"

"She went to my high school," she said quietly.

"What's her name?"

"Lynne Kramer." She sniffled. "She called me and asked if I wanted to see a movie. By the time I got here, I didn't see her anywhere but I heard someone crying softly." She let out a sob. "I knew it was her."

Olivia just sat there not sure what to say. "I'm sorry Maureen," was all that came out.

"Me too." She set her head in Olivia's lap and sobbed.

Olivia just rubbed her back, not knowing what to say. Her best friend's daughter's friend was raped and nearly killed. What was she supposed to say? "Do you want me to take you to the hospital?"

"I can't," she said sniffling. "I wouldn't…I just wouldn't know what to say."

"Does your mom know about this?"

"No," Maureen said, her head still in Olivia's lap.

"Do you want to call her?"

"She's gone Olivia." She looked up at the detective. "She left a few weeks ago." She frowned. "My dad didn't tell you?"

She shook her head, "No, he didn't tell me. I'll be right back okay?"

Maureen nodded and sat up.

Olivia walked over to Elliot. "Did you know that she knows the victim?"

"No, I didn't," he said, looking over at Olivia.

"Yeah, they were friends apparently. You know friends tell each other stuff." She could feel herself becoming angry. _No, this is not the time or place to be angry, _she thought to herself.

"Yeah they do," he said.

"Yeah. They tell each other about who they like in school, what they want to do for a living…that their wife skipped town…"

"Yeah…what?" He looked at her. "What are you talking about?"

"Maureen told me, El. Why didn't you tell me," she asked, a mixed look of hurt and sympathy in her eyes.

"It's a long story," he said after a minute.

Olivia looked around and saw Melinda. She walked over to her, "Do you think you can do the rape kit for this one?"

"I was planning to," she said. "This one's a bit close to home, huh?"

"You could say that. Thanks Melinda." She walked back over to Elliot. "So…I'm a good listener."

* * *

Now there's a cliffhanger! Why did Kathy completely leave? Will Maureen be okay? All will be answered…either tomorrow or next week. Thanks for reading and please review!!


	7. Chapter 7

**Oh my gosh, I am so sorry I haven't updated this story! I think it's been about a month. I got a horrible case of writer's block and was writing (I still am) a different fan fiction story…so sorry about that! Anyway I hope you like this chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything…except the character(s) I made up.**

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**Crime Scene**

**Midnight**

Elliot didn't say anything for a few minutes. His mind seemed to wander away from what Olivia was asking him. He glanced over at Maureen who was still sitting on the curb, her chin in her hands. It had been three weeks since Kathy had left. Granted, the two were already separated, but how could she just leave her four children?

"Elliot," Olivia said, bringing him back.

"Hmm?" He looked over at his partner and best friend. "Oh…right. She uh…" He shrugged, not exactly knowing what to say, but he knew he'd eventually end up telling her anyway. He walked her over to the car was. "I got a phone call from Kathleen the day Kathy left. She said that when she got home from school, Kathy was in the bedroom packing a suitcase. She was crying…and you know Kathleen." He looked at Olivia.

She nodded, "She never cries."

"Exactly. That's how I knew something was really wrong." He took a deep breath before continuing. "Anyway to make a long story short, I drove over to the house and sure enough Kathy was packing. When I asked her why she was packing up and leaving, she just looked at me and said she couldn't deal with it anymore."

Olivia looked at Elliot. "There's more, isn't there?"

He nodded, "You know me too well."

"I've only been your partner for a little over ten years, El. I think I can tell when something isn't right. Come on, what happened?"

He shook his head. "She said that she met some guy and I guess he asked her to come live with him…except he lives in Chicago. Kathy's always been a little unstable, but this was completely out of the blue. I never thought she'd do something like that." By now he was wiping an impending tear that was trying to make its way down his cheek. "When I couldn't talk some sense into her, she just…left. Just like that. She barely said goodbye to the kids. The only communication I've gotten from her is a piece of mail…containing divorce papers."

Olivia just stood there, taking this all in. She never pictured Kathy just leaving her kids. She loved them…or so Olivia thought. "So did you move back into the house?"

"What else was I going to do," he asked, becoming defensive.

"Sorry," she said softly. "Anyway we should probably get to the hospital." Before she could continue, Fin walked over to the two.

"No need to go to the hospital," he said solemnly.

Olivia frowned, "What do you mean? We have to gather evidence and the rape kit and…"

He shook his head, "She died about five minutes ago. Whoever did this to her really wanted her dead." He looked at the two. "Cap said to just go home tonight and start searching for the guy tomorrow."

Elliot nodded, "Thanks," he said quietly. How was he going to tell his daughter that her friend had just died? He looked up at Olivia whose face was that of shock and sadness.

"I should get home," she said quietly. As she walked away from Elliot, she turned around. "Thanks for telling me." Yet the only thing she could really think of right now was that this girl who just died could have been Amanda when she was raped. The guy could have easily beaten her to death. She got into the car and drove off.

Elliot took a deep breath and walked over to his daughter and sat beside her. As he told her what happened, he wrapped her in his arms as she sobbed.

* * *

**Olivia's Apartment**

**12:30am**

Turning the key as gently as possible, not wanting to wake Amanda (even though she told her to when she got home), Olivia very slowly opened the door and walked into the dark apartment, making sure to stop in the spare bedroom. There was Amanda, sound asleep. She quietly walked over to her and sat on the bed, trying not to let out the tears that wanted to fall down her face. "I'm home," she said quietly.

Amanda's eyes slowly opened and a small smile appeared on her face. "You're okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I told you I would be. Now get back to sleep okay? You still have school tomorrow," she said as she pulled the covers over Amanda.

"Okay," Amanda said as she began to fall back asleep. Olivia got up and was about to walk out of the room. "Olivia?"

She turned around, "Yeah?"

"Thanks."

"For what?"

"For keeping your promise," Amanda said as she fell back asleep.

"You're welcome," she whispered, though it was barely audible. She walked into her bedroom and made sure to close the door. She sat down on the bed and couldn't help but to be thankful that Amanda wasn't lying in some hospital bed or that she wasn't beaten to death. Amanda was one of the lucky ones; she was a survivor.

* * *

**Next Day**

**Squad Room**

**8:30am**

Olivia walked into the squad room and placed her purse into the side drawer of her desk. She looked at the desk across from her, noticing it was empty. Elliot was usually here by now. Where was he?

"He called and said he'd be here later," Cragen said from behind Olivia, causing her to jump.

She turned around. "Okay…is he all right?"

He nodded, "He said to tell you that everything's fine and to start without him."

Fin walked over to her, "Looks like it's you and me today," he said with a small smile.

Olivia nodded, "Okay. So where do you want to start?"

* * *

"Looks like this could be our guy," John said as he pointed to one of the five possible suspects on the screen.

"He sure fits the description of what that one woman said she saw last night," Olivia said as she looked at her notes.

"I say we go pick him up," Fin said agreeing with the two.

Before Olivia could say anything, the phone on her desk rang. She walked over to it, leaving Fin and Munch discussing how they were going to get the guy. "Benson," she said into the phone. As she listened to the person on the other end, her eyes grew wide and she had to sit down. "Yeah, thank you," she said, still not able to believe what was happening. She hung up the phone and just sat at her desk for a moment. She still had to soak this all in.

"Liv," Fin said for the third time.

"Hmm?" She blinked and looked up at him.

"I said Munch and I are going to pick the guy up…" He stopped when he saw the look on her face. "What's wrong?"

She shook her head, "Nothing." A small smile made its way onto her face.

"Okay," John said, a little north of confused.

She looked at the two and smiled, "They said yes."

"Who said yes," Fin asked.

"ACS. I've been bugging them for the past couple of weeks about this whole custody thing and whether or not I'd be a fit person to have Amanda stay with me and…"

Fin just smiled, "Congratulations."

"Thanks."

"Congratulations on what," John asked. "What did I miss?"

"You know for a guy who says he's smarter than he looks…well let's just say you don't look like that guy," Fin said.

Olivia looked at John, wanting to add another comment but she couldn't think of anything. "They said that after looking at my case several times, that even though my work hours are crazy…they said that I…" She would have gone on had Elliot not walked into the squad room at that minute.

"What about your work hours," he asked Olivia, acting as though he had been sitting there the whole time.

Olivia, having an idea as to what was probably going through her partner's head decided to let this go. "ACS just called."

"And?"

She smiled, "They said that…"

"Stabler!" Cragen called from his office.

"Oh goody," Elliot said as he got up. "I'll be back…I hope." He walked into Cragen's office.

John just looked around, "Are you going to tell us or what?"

"I still can't believe you haven't figured it out old man," Fin said, shaking his head. "She said that…"

* * *

**Cragen's Office**

**Same Time**

"Close the door behind you," Cragen said as Elliot walked into the office.

"What'd I do this time," he asked as he closed the door.

"What makes you think you did something?"

Elliot sighed, "Well the only time you call me in here is usually to tell me I did something wrong or to warn me to not do something stupid."

Cragen shrugged, "Yeah well this time is different," he said as he motioned for Elliot to sit down. Once he did, he looked at him. "I just wanted to see how you were doing." He saw the confused look on Elliot's face. "I heard about last night."

Elliot turned towards his co-workers, mainly looking at his partner. How could she tell him everything like that?

"I mean I heard about who the witness was," Cragen said.

Elliot turned back to his boss. "Oh…right," he said rather relieved. Then again he should have known better; Olivia wouldn't betray their friendship.

"How is she doing?"

"Not good, to be honest." He paused. "But she'll get through it."

Cragen nodded, satisfied with the detective's answer. "If you need any time off…"

"Thanks. I'll be fine though, as will Maureen."

"Okay."

Elliot got up and opened the door. Before walking out, he turned to Cragen. "Um…thanks for…you know."

He just nodded, "You're welcome. Now get back to work."

Elliot walked out of the office and back to his desk. "So," he said to Olivia, who was in the middle of a sentence. "You were about to say?"

"Hang on," she said, looking at the other three detectives, making sure neither one was about to start talking about something. She made sure to look at the phones as well, hoping they weren't going to ring. "Okay," she said after a few moments. "That phone call I got was from ACS. In a nutshell, they said that even though my work hours are crazy, Amanda's 16 and is pretty independent, that they decided to grant me permanent custody," she said in one breath.

"That's great Liv," John said as he walked over to her and hugged her.

"As I said earlier, congratulations," Fin said.

"Thanks guys." She looked over at Elliot.

He just had a smile on his face. "What did I tell you about you being able to have a kid someday? Sure she's a teenager, but I think I have earned the right to say I told you so."

Olivia rolled her eyes, "Whatever." She was about to start on some paperwork, but suddenly stopped. "Oh my gosh."

"What's wrong," Elliot asked.

"I haven't told Amanda. She doesn't know yet."

"Well you can tell her you know," Fin said.

She looked at him. "How? She's in school right now."

He pointed to the hall. "That's how."

Olivia turned around and saw Amanda standing practically right behind her, along with a middle-aged woman who must have been from ACS. A smile came across her face.

"Tell me what," Amanda said, rather nervous. All she knew was that she had been pulled out of school from a woman with ACS. The woman hadn't told her anything except where they were going.

Olivia got up and walked Amanda into the hall. "I got a phone call this morning," she said with a serious look on her face.

Amanda looked at the floor. "Oh."

"I just hope you're able to fit all of your stuff into your bedroom."

Amanda looked up at Olivia. "Wait. You mean…"

She nodded, "Yep."

All Amanda could do was wrap her arms around Olivia. "Thank you," she said as a few tears fell from her eyes.

"You're welcome."

* * *

**Well that wasn't much of a cliffhanger, but it was happy (at the end anyway). =) I still have more to write, so this wasn't the last chapter…after all, what's going to happen between Elliot and Olivia? I will try to have another chapter out by either the weekend or sometime next week! Please review and thanks for reading!**


	8. Chapter 8

**I just want to say a quick thank you to those who reviewed the previous chapter! I really appreciate reading them; they truly inspire me to write more. =)**

**Disclaimer: I still don't own anything except for Amanda. Everything else belongs to Dick Wolf, NBC, etc…**

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**One Week Later**

**Olivia's Apartment – Saturday**

Olivia walked into what would now be considered Amanda's room. "Are you about ready?" They were going to go over to the house to retrieve the rest of Amanda's personal belongings.

She shrugged, "I guess."

"Are you okay?" Olivia walked further into the room and sat on the bed.

"I'm not sure that I want to go back to that house. All that I have from there are bad memories," she said as she looked up at Olivia.

"Well think about it this way: this will probably be the last time you'll have to go over there."

Amanda nodded, "Okay," she said as she stood up.

"Come on." Olivia walked out of the room closely followed by Amanda.

* * *

"I think I changed my mind," Amanda said as Olivia pulled up in front of the house.

Olivia sighed and shut off the car and looked at Amanda. "You have a choice: you can come with me and get your stuff or we can just sit in the car. It's up to you."

Amanda, knowing that Olivia really meant what she said simply opened the door. "Let's just get this over with."

"Good choice," she said as she got out of the car. They got the empty boxes out of the car and walked up to the house.

"I think that's the last of it," Amanda said as she placed a few books into the box.

"Do you want to take these pictures," Olivia asked, handing them to Amanda.

Amanda smiled, "You found them!" She looked through the pictures from when she was a little girl. Many of them were of Amanda with her friends, most of who had since moved out of the area. "Okay, that's now the last of it," she said, still smiling at one of the pictures. "My kindergarten graduation," she said as she handed the picture to Olivia.

Olivia looked at the picture. "You should get this one framed."

"Maybe," Amanda said as she lifted one of the boxes up and walked towards the door.

* * *

"I don't understand how we were able to get them into the car and yet we can't get them out," Amanda said as she tried once again to get the stubborn box out of the trunk.

"This happened to me when I moved here," Olivia said.

"Need some help there," a voice from behind the two said.

Olivia jumped from hearing the voice and turned around. "What are you doing here El?" She looked over at the girl next to him. "Hi Kathleen, how are you?"

"Grounded," she said as she glared at her dad.

"That's what happens when we try to sneak out of the house at 10:00pm," Elliot said, receiving an eye roll from his 16-year-old daughter.

"So," Olivia said, wanting to change the subject. "What are you doing here?"

"When you mentioned yesterday that you and Amanda were going to be getting the rest of her stuff today, that you may need an extra pair of hands. Looks like I was right," he said when he saw Amanda once again attempt to lift the box out of the trunk.

"Thanks, but I think we can manage," Olivia said.

"No we can't," Amanda interjected. She smiled innocently at Olivia.

Elliot walked over to Amanda and motioned for her to move to her left. "There we go," he said, taking the box out of the trunk.

"Show off," Olivia muttered to herself

Kathleen let out a small giggle upon hearing Olivia's remark.

After allowing Elliot to help them with the rest of the boxes (all of which seemed to be rather difficult to get out of the trunk), Amanda took one of the boxes into her room.

As she placed the item on the dresser she looked at the doorway and saw Kathleen standing there. She smiled softly, "Hi."

"Hi," Kathleen said, walking further into the room.

"So you really tried to sneak out of the house," Amanda said, trying to make small talk.

Kathleen just shrugged and sat on the bed. "I used to actually get away with it when my mom still lived with us."

Amanda frowned, "Used to?"

"Yeah, she left about a month ago."

"I'm sorry."

"So how old are you," Kathleen asked, changing the subject. The last thing she felt like talking about was her mother leaving; not that it really bothered her since she and her mom always seemed to disagree on everything.

"I'm 16, how about you?"

She smiled, "You're 16? So am I."

"Cool," Amanda said as she continued to unpack her things. Kathleen got up and decided to help her.

Olivia sat down in the living room after setting the last box down by Amanda's room. "So why'd you bring Kathleen with you?"

"For one thing, I'd rather not risk her sneaking out again and I thought that she and Amanda might get along," he said as he heard them laugh about something. "Looks like I was right." He smiled and sat closer to Olivia. "So are you doing anything tonight?"

"I don't think so, unless Amanda needs help with unpacking, but I think she's got that under control." She looked at Elliot, "Why?"

"I don't know, I just thought that maybe you'd like to go out for dinner," he said hopefully.

Olivia smiled, "Sure. Let's just hope that afterwards we don't end up seeing each other at another crime scene," she said, recalling the last time that happened. "How is Maureen, by the way?"

"She's all right. She barely talks about that night…or about anything for that matter. I can't seem to get her to open up."

"Give her time. I'm sure she'll open up to you soon. She's probably still processing what happened," Olivia said.

"Yeah," he said quietly. "So…does 6:00 sound like a good time to pick you up?"

She nodded, "Yeah."

He stood up, "I should probably get Kathleen back home." He walked into Amanda's room. "Ready to go Kathleen?"

She looked at him, "No. But I don't have a choice in the matter, now do I?"

"Lose the attitude," he said. "See you later Amanda."

"Bye…and it was nice meeting you Kathleen."

She smiled, "You too."

After Elliot and Kathleen left, Olivia walked into Amanda's room. "It looks pretty good in here." She looked over at the nightstand, which had the picture of Amanda's kindergarten graduation on it.

"Thanks," she said as she took a few more items out of the box.

"I just wanted to let you know that I'm going to be out tonight," Olivia said as she sat on the bed.

"Hot date?"

Olivia's eyes widened. "Excuse me?"

Amanda smiled, "Come on Olivia. I've seen the way you look at him. You love him, don't you?"

Olivia was at a loss for words. "I…uh…well I'm not sure if it's love right now, but I definitely like him…a lot."

* * *

**That Evening**

**Restaurant **

After the waitress brought over the salads, Elliot looked over at Olivia. "You look great," he said, admiring her deep blue dress.

She blushed, "Thanks. You look pretty good too. I rarely see you in an actual suit."

"What about court?"

"This one is different," she said. "You always look drained when we're in court, thus making you not look as handsome in the suit. But tonight you look…well not so drained," she smiled.

"Thank you…I think."

Olivia put her fork down and looked at Elliot. "What do the kids think about…you know, us?"

"They seem okay with it, except for Lizzie."

She now had a look of concern on her face, "Really?"

"Well she was the closest to Kathy and her leaving didn't exactly help," he explained.

"Oh," she said quietly. "Do you think this is okay then?"

"Trust me, it's not that she doesn't like you; in fact she likes you a lot. She just isn't used to seeing me go out with someone other than her mom…even though it's been a while since we had separated." He gave her a reassuring look.

She nodded, "As long as you're sure…"

"Liv, do you really think I'd be asking you out if I thought the kids wouldn't be all right with it?" He placed his hand on hers, "Trust me, it's fine."

She smiled, knowing he wouldn't lead her on especially when kids were involved. "All right."

* * *

"Thank you for a wonderful evening," Olivia said as Elliot pulled up in front of the apartment building.

He shut off the car and looked at her, "You're more than welcome," he said as he leaned in to kiss her.

"I should probably get inside," Olivia said once they parted.

"Okay," he said, not wanting this night to end. "Just one more thing though."

She looked at him. "And that would be…"

He kissed her once again. "That," he said after a few moments.

She just smiled and kissed him once more on the cheek before exiting the car. "I'll see you on Monday."

"Okay," he said, waiting until she was inside the building.

* * *

**Monday Morning**

**16****th**** Precinct**

"Well I'm glad that guy is finally off the streets," Elliot said as he walked out of the interrogation room. He looked over at Cragen and shrugged, "What now?"

"What did I say about beating up the suspect Elliot?"

"The guy deserved it."

"I know that, but I don't think practically putting his head through the wall was exactly helpful," Cragen said before walking into his office.

"You should try going into a Zen state before going in there," Munch said from his desk.

The other three detectives looked at him as if he was nuts.

"Hey it works. How else do you think I keep my cool here?"

"Yeah, it really helped when you nearly ran that private investigator over," Fin said.

He shrugged, "There was a small child involved."

"He's got a point there," Olivia said, looking up from her paperwork. She knew how much it got to all of them whenever the victim was a child.

Cragen soon emerged from his office at the same time Olivia's phone rang. "New case," he said. "That guy who we've been looking for…the one who raped that girl…" He looked over at Elliot.

"You mean the guy who killed her?" He said, anger beginning to take over.

"Yeah, him. Anyway a woman just called saying that she saw someone who matched the description the witness gave us," Cragen said.

"And he turned out to be the wrong guy," Fin interjected.

Cragen nodded, "I know but about an hour before this woman called, a girl was raped. I just found out," he said, seeing Elliot's face.

Fin looked over at Olivia and then at Elliot. "Why don't you and I handle this one," he said to Elliot.

He nodded, "All right."

"Be back later," Elliot said as he passed Olivia's desk.

She looked up and nodded, "Thanks." She had already been called in last night for a rape case; only this victim was 10 years old. She was still working on the paperwork from it.

Munch looked over at her, "You all right Liv?"

"I'm fine," she said. "Just relieved that I'm not on that case." She gave him a small smile before returning to her paperwork. Before she could write anything down, someone came into the squad room.

"Olivia?"

Olivia looked up. "Maureen?"

"Yeah…" She wiped her eyes again.

Olivia could tell she was or had been crying. "What's wrong? Is everything all right?"

"No," she said on the verge of tears again.

She got up from her desk and walked over to her since Maureen seemed to be glued to the spot where she was standing. "What happened?"

"I just…I…" She would have continued, had she not started sobbing again.

"Why don't we go upstairs," she said softly.

She just nodded, "Okay," she whispered.

"Olivia I…" Cragen started to say when he saw Maureen. He looked at Olivia and motioned for her to walk over to him.

"I'll be right back." She walked over to the captain.

"What's going on?"

"That's what I'm about to find out," she said fearing the worst.

He nodded, "Okay."

"Thanks." She walked back over to Maureen. "Come on," she said as they walked upstairs. After sitting down, Olivia looked at Maureen, "What happened?"

"It's just…all these feelings…I can't really describe it," she said unable to control the tears.

Olivia just comforted the girl, remembering that Elliot had said she had been unable to open up about what had happened that night, or even really talk about how she felt regarding her mother leaving. "You can talk to me," she said gently.

* * *

**That turned out to be a little longer than I expected! I wanted Maureen to end up telling Olivia instead of Elliot how she was feeling…now the question is how will Elliot feel about this? And what about Lizzie…more shall be revealed! I'll try to post the next chapter either later this week or next weekend. Please review and thanks for reading!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Thank you again for the reviews! They are truly appreciated. Since work was canceled today (we had a rather large snowstorm come through yesterday and today…I think there is about 8 inches of now on the ground plus an inch of ice), I thought I'd update. =)**

**A/N: I got an idea from the episode PTSD. You'll see where it comes in to play.**

**Disclaimer: I still own nothing except for Amanda.**

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**16****th**** Precinct**

**Same Time**

Maureen ended up telling Olivia practically everything that she had pent up inside of her. "I used to talk to my mom all the time about stuff like this," she said as she wiped her eyes again.

All Olivia could really do was listen and comfort her. "Why haven't you talked to your dad about how you're feeling," she asked after a few moments of silence.

She shrugged, "I've never really been able to talk to him about…personal issues, you know? That's what I'd talk to my mom about." She sighed and looked at her watch. "I should probably go."

Olivia nodded, "Okay," she said, not sure if Maureen really was okay.

Maureen stood up and walked over to the stairs. Before going down, she turned around. "Olivia?"

She looked up, "Yeah?"

"Thanks," she said with a small smile.

"You're welcome," Olivia said, returning the smile. She followed Maureen down the stairs. "Hang on a second," she said as Maureen started to walk out of the squad room. She walked over to her desk and took one of her cards and handed it to Maureen. "If you ever need anything or just need to talk, don't hesitate to call me."

"Okay," Maureen said.

"Maureen? What are you doing here," Elliot asked from behind her, causing her to jump.

She turned around. "Hi dad. I just…I um…"

"She just needed to talk about a few things," Olivia said.

He looked over at Olivia and then back at Maureen. "Okay," he said softly.

"I should probably go," she said after an awkward silence. "Thanks again," she said to Olivia.

"No problem," Olivia said, not exactly sure what to make of the expression on Elliot's face.

Maureen gave her father a hug and left.

"So did you guys find him," Olivia asked, trying to change the subject.

"He's in custody now," Fin said as he walked over to Cragen's office to let him know.

Olivia looked at Elliot, "That's great. Hopefully he'll never see the light of day again."

"Yeah…so she talked to you?"

She sat down at her desk. "Yeah; I asked her why she didn't come to you, but she said…"

"Kathy would always be the one the kids went to," he said as he sat down. He took a deep breath and looked up at her. "Thanks."

"So you're not angry?"

He gave her a confused look. "Why would I be angry?"

"I don't know; I thought that maybe you would have rather she come to you or something," she said with a shrug. "Anyway I should finish this paperwork."

He nodded, "Okay." He paused before speaking again. "Listen I was just wondering if you wanted to come over for dinner on Friday."

"Uh…"

"With Amanda of course," he added.

She thought for a moment. "Are you sure the kids would be all right with that?"

"Sure, they'll be fine. I'll warn them beforehand," he said, stifling a laugh.

Olivia took a blank piece of paper, crumpled it up and tossed it in his direction, but he moved away just in time for it to…

"Olivia I need the…" Cragen began. He was stopped by the crumpled piece of paper.

"Oops," she said softly, trying not to laugh.

He looked at his two detectives. "I don't know what you two are doing, but do it when you're not at work," he said crossly.

"Sorry," Olivia said. "Anyway what were going to say?"

"I need the DD-5 on the Hardin rape case; you know the one you two worked on last week?"

She nodded and found the file under the one she was currently working on. She took it out, looked it over and handed it to Cragen. "Sorry, I meant to give it to you the other day."

He waved it off and walked back into his office.

She sighed and looked back at Elliot. "Friday sounds fine, thanks."

He smiled, "Great."

* * *

**Olivia's Apartment**

**That Evening**

Amanda was lying on the sofa, asleep. She had been studying for a test since got home that day. As she slept, she could see the rape happening again. "Stop," she mumbled quietly.

Olivia got off the elevator and walked towards her apartment when she heard someone scream. "Amanda," she said to herself, quickly finding the key and unlocking the door. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that Amanda was alone. She put her keys and bag down and walked over to her. "Amanda, wake up," she said gently.

"No, leave me alone!" She screamed, still in the nightmare. She jolted up, breathing heavily. She looked over at Olivia, tears in her eyes.

"It's okay sweetie, you're safe," Olivia said as she wrapped her arms around Amanda who was still shaking.

"He was here," she cried.

Olivia shook her head, "No you were having a nightmare Amanda. He's not here," she said, her arms still around the scared girl.

She slowly started to calm down and cried into Olivia's shoulder. "It was so real," she said, her voice still shaky.

"I know, but you're safe now."

Amanda sat up and looked at Olivia. "I'm sorry."

"What are you talking about honey? What are you sorry for?"

"I didn't mean to scream like that," she said as she moved to the other end of the sofa and brought her knees up to her chin.

Olivia shook her head, "You have nothing to be sorry for Amanda. Why are you sitting over there?"

"Please don't hurt me," she said in a small voice.

Olivia closed her eyes for a moment. _Damn that woman, _she thought to herself, thinking of what Amanda's mother probably did to her the night she was raped. She moved over to Amanda and gently put her hand on her shoulder. "I'm not going to hurt you, Amanda. You know that," she said quietly. "Amanda, look at me."

Amanda slowly lifted her head from her knees and looked at Olivia.

"I promise you that I will never, _ever_ hurt you. Ever. Okay?"

She nodded slowly and put her arms around Olivia. "Okay," she said, believing her.

After a few moments of just sitting there, Amanda pulled away and took a deep breath. "I was trying to study for this test I have tomorrow…I guess I fell asleep."

"I was going to make dinner. Why don't you take a little break and study after dinner?"

Amanda nodded and put picked her book up from the floor and placed it back on the table.

Olivia stood up and walked into the kitchen. "I should have gone into social work," she said to herself.

* * *

**Wednesday**

**High School**

Amanda sat in class, trying to concentrate on what her teacher was saying. She looked up at the clock, thankful that the period was almost over. She was trying her hardest to concentrate, but the images kept creeping back into her mind of that night. She shook her head and tried to focus. Yet the harder she tried to get the images out of her head, the worse they seemed to become. Her teacher placed a book on the desk only it fell to the ground with a thump. All Amanda could hear and see was being thrown against the wall. "Stop!" She screamed.

All eyes were now on her. Why had she just screamed? Her teacher walked over to her. "Amanda, are you all right?"

"Make him stop," she cried just as the bell rang.

Her teacher, who had been told of what happened to Amanda not long ago, knew what she was yelling about. He looked around at the students who were still looking at Amanda, wondering what was going on. "Get to your next class," he snapped, looking at them.

Amanda looked up at her teacher, remembering where she was.

"Come on," he said so not to scare her. He helped her up and walked her to the office.

* * *

**16****th**** Precinct Squad Room**

**Same Time**

Elliot and Olivia walked into the squad room and sat down at their desks. "That was intense," Elliot said.

"He made me angry," Olivia said.

"I don't think I've heard you yell like that at a suspect since…well maybe ever."

She rolled her eyes. "Come on El, I know you wanted to rip his head off."

He shrugged, "I figured I'd let you take the wheel on this one."

"Right," she said as her phone rang. "Benson."

Elliot walked over to Munch and Fin, both of whom were wondering what exactly happened.

Fin looked over at Olivia. "Is she okay?"

Elliot turned around and noticed that his partner looked rather worried. He walked over to her. "Everything okay," he asked, even though she was still on the phone.

"Thank you," she said before hanging up. She sighed and looked up at Elliot. "Not really." She walked over to Cragen's office and knocked on the door.

"Come in," he said.

She walked into the office, closing the door behind her. "I have to go."

"What do you mean," he asked, motioning for her to sit down.

"You think she's okay," Munch asked.

Elliot shrugged, "I don't know. She didn't really say anything to me."

Olivia stood up. "Thanks Captain," she said as she opened the door. She walked over to her desk and got her things together.

"Liv what's going on," Elliot asked as he took her aside.

"I got a call from Amanda's school," she said quietly. "This happened on Monday night too."

"What happened on Monday night?"

"She sort of relived what happened to her. Anyway I guess she got upset in class so I need to go get her," she said as she walked over to the elevator.

He nodded, "All right."

She walked out to her car and drove to the school.

* * *

Amanda sat in the office, knowing that she was in trouble. Olivia was not going to be happy. Why did her teacher have to call her?

Olivia walked into the office and saw Amanda sitting in one of the chairs. "Hi," she said as she walked over to her.

"Hi," Amanda said, not looking up.

"What's wrong? Other than the obvious that is," she asked.

"I didn't mean for this to happen," she said quietly.

"I know. Come on."

Amanda looked up, "Where?"

"Home," Olivia said.

Amanda nodded and walked silently out to the car.

The ride home was rather silent. Olivia glanced over at Amanda and noticed she was starting to cry, but at the same time was keeping it inside.

Once they were in the apartment, Amanda started to walk to her room.

"Amanda hang on," Olivia said, stopping her.

"I'm sorry okay? I didn't do it on purpose and I didn't…"

"Amanda, relax," Olivia said as she led her to the sofa. "I'm not angry. I just want to talk to you."

She wiped her eyes. "Really? You're not mad?"

"No…and I think I know why this happened to you," Olivia said as she motioned for her to sit down.

"I'm crazy, aren't I?"

"Far from it," Olivia said as she walked over to Amanda and helped her to sit down since she was still standing in the same spot. "Amanda I want you to see a therapist."

"What?"

"I think you may have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder," Olivia said carefully.

Amanda frowned. "You think I have PTSD?" Her face softened. "Is that why I keep having these nightmares?"

"I think it is, but I'm not an expert. I just know a couple of people who have it. That's why I want you to see someone about this," she said.

Amanda nodded, "Okay," she said almost inaudibly.

* * *

**Friday Evening**

"I told you it wouldn't be that bad," Olivia said as she and Amanda walked out of the building.

"She's really nice," Amanda said.

"And now it's on to the interesting part of the evening," Olivia said as the two got into the car.

"What, dinner?" Amanda was confused. "I thought you and Elliot liked each other."

"We do." Olivia looked over at Amanda. "The kids…or at least one of them is another story." She started the car and began driving to Elliot's was going to be an interesting night to say the least.

* * *

**Not a huge cliffhanger there, but you have to wonder how dinner's going to go. I will try to update this weekend. Please review and thanks for reading!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Thank you so much for the reviews! They really do help to inspire one to write. =) Anyway, here's the next chapter. Enjoy and please review!**

**Disclaimer: I still don't own them. I only own Amanda.**

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**Stabler Residence**

**Friday Evening**

"And I'm done," Kathleen said as she set the last plate down on the table. She tilted her head and looked at the table. "I never knew we had so many plates."

"It's only two extra people," Dickie said as he placed an extra chair in the dining room. "Lizzie what are you doing," he asked his sister as she placed another placemat, plate and set of silverware on the table.

She looked up at him. "This is for mom."

"She's not coming remember? I've only told you this about a thousand times or so," Kathleen said as she removed what her sister had just set down.

Lizzie just frowned and sat down on the sofa. Of all the Stabler children, Lizzie was having the hardest time adjusting to not having her mom around, let alone finding out that her dad was dating…his partner. She liked Olivia, but she liked her as the woman her dad worked with, not as the woman her dad was dating.

Elliot walked downstairs, "Looks good," he said, approving the table Kathleen had set.

"It's missing a plate," Lizzie said as she got up and walked to where her father was.

He counted the number of plates on the table. "There's seven plates on the table. Who's missing a plate?"

"Mom is."

"How many different times in how many different languages do I have to tell you that mom left and she's never coming back," Kathleen yelled at her sister.

"Shut up!" Lizzie ran up to her and Kathleen's room and slammed the door.

"She is so…"

"That's enough Kathleen," Elliot said as he walked upstairs. He knocked on the door. "Lizzie open up."

She walked to the door and opened it before returning to her bed. "Mom should be here, not that other woman."

He sat down beside her. "First of all, that 'other woman' has a name; it's Olivia. And second…honey don't you remember mom saying something to the effect of not being able to do it anymore?"

"So? That doesn't mean you have to date her!"

"I know it's hard," he said softly. "But as time goes on, it'll get easier." He stood up. "Come on, let's go downstairs."

She sighed, "Fine. But I don't have to like it," she said as she pushed past her dad and walked downstairs.

* * *

Olivia pulled into the driveway and shut off the car. "Here we are."

"Cute house," Amanda said as she opened the door. As they walked up to the front door, Amanda looked over at Olivia. "Are you okay?"

"Hmm?"

"I asked if you were okay. You seem to be…I don't know, in your own little world there."

Olivia shook her head, "Sorry. I just haven't been here since…well for a while." She rang the doorbell.

"I got it," Dickie said as he walked to the door and opened it. "Hi Olivia," he said with a small smile.

Olivia smiled, "Hi Dickie, how are you?"

"Good." He looked at Amanda. "Who are you?"

"Glad you could come," Elliot said as he walked to the door before Olivia could answer Dickie's question. "How are you doing Amanda?" He motioned for the two to come inside.

"Better," she said quietly.

"Who's Amanda," Dickie asked as Olivia and Amanda walked into the house.

"I am," Amanda answered.

He nodded, "Oh, okay."

"Hi Kathleen," Olivia said when she saw the sixteen year old walk into the living room.

She smiled, "Hi Olivia." She looked over at Amanda and smiled again. Even though the two had only met once, they seemed to have developed a friendship. "Hi Amanda."

Amanda could feel herself relax a little. At least she knew one of the kids in this house. "Hi…so are you still grounded," she asked, trying to suppress a laugh.

"Thankfully, no," she said as she gave her dad a look.

Olivia smiled when she saw the interaction between the two. "So where are the others," she asked Elliot.

"Maureen should be on her way home from class and Lizzie is…well she was on the couch." He looked around for her. "Lizzie?"

"I'm right here," Lizzie said from the stairs. She walked back to the couch. "Hi," she said softly to Olivia.

Olivia smiled, "Hi Lizzie."

"Who are you," Lizzie asked, looking pointedly at Amanda.

"Will you quit being so rude," Dickie said, getting annoyed with his twin sister.

"I'm Amanda," Amanda said as she gave Lizzie a little smile, hoping she didn't already hate her.

Maureen walked through the back door and set her things down. "I'm home," she said as she walked into the living room. She smiled when she saw Olivia.

"Hi sweetie," Elliot said. "How was class?"

She shrugged, "Same as usual. My professor lectured and no one really listened…except for me," she added when she saw the look her father was giving her.

"Right," Elliot said, still eyeing her. "Anyway we should go sit down." As everyone walked into the dining room, he stopped Olivia. "Relax, no one's going to bite remember?"

"Is Lizzie okay?" She asked him softly.

"She's just a little…on edge. She'll be fine. Come on," he said as he gave her a small kiss.

"Ugh I think I'm going to be sick."

"That's enough Elizabeth," Elliot said as he and Olivia walked into the dining room.

She rolled her eyes and looked at where Olivia sat down. "You can't sit there."

"Why not," Olivia asked her.

"That's where my mom sits and you're not my mom."

Kathleen kicked Lizzie, "Will you stop it already," she whispered. "You are acting like a four year old."

"Well she's not mom," Lizzie countered.

"Thank goodness for that," Maureen muttered under her breath.

"What did you say," Elliot asked, looking at Maureen.

She looked down at her plate and then up at her dad. "I said wow would you look at that," she said, pointing to the bread that was in the middle of the table.

The rest of dinner was just as awkward and quiet. Olivia occasionally glanced over at Lizzie who seemed to be rather distant.

"So," Olivia said once everyone was through and in the living room, "How are you doing Maureen," she asked when she saw that Maureen was still sitting in the dining room.

Maureen looked up and shrugged, "A little better, I guess."

"I just wanted to make sure, since you were pretty quiet during dinner."

"Thanks," she said. Acting almost on instinct, she got up and walked over to Olivia and hugged her.

Elliot smiled when he walked past the dining room. He knew that Olivia and Maureen had formed a bond that night a few weeks ago, and was glad that at least one of his kids had accepted Olivia. He walked back into the living room where everyone else was. "How are you doing Amanda," he asked as he sat next to her.

"Okay I guess. I went to see that therapist friend of Olivia's today." She knew that Olivia had told Elliot what was going on and was, in a way happy that she did.

"Yeah I heard you were going to do that today. Did you like her?"

She shrugged, "I guess…for a therapist anyway."

"Why are you seeing a therapist," Kathleen asked, overhearing the conversation.

Amanda looked at Elliot for help.

"If and when Amanda's ready, she'll tell you," he said, seeing a small smile make its way on to Amanda's face.

Kathleen looked over at Amanda who just shook her head. "Maybe some other time." Every time she talked about it, the horrible images would enter her mind.

"Okay," Kathleen said.

Olivia and Maureen walked back into the living room. "Everything okay," Olivia asked when she saw Kathleen and Amanda.

Amanda nodded, "Everything's fine."

She looked at Amanda. "Are you sure?"

"I'm sure," she said. She could feel her face turn red.

Olivia looked at Elliot, "I'll be right back." She walked towards the bathroom, but could hear someone crying softly on the stairs. She walked over. "Lizzie?"

Lizzie quickly wiped her eyes and looked up. "What?"

"What's wrong," Olivia asked as she walked a little closer.

She shook her head, "Nothing."

Olivia sighed, knowing she wasn't going to get through to Lizzie. "Okay," she said as she started to walk away.

"I miss her."

Olivia turned around. "Your mom?"

Lizzie nodded. "She just…left. One day she was here and the next day she was packing and then just left." She shook her head. "And now, just a month later my dad has decided that he's moved on," she said, her voice becoming angry.

"Well your parents were separated for a while before he decided to move on," Olivia said, trying to reason with Lizzie.

"Oh sure, defend him! Then again you would," she said in an accusatory tone. "You were probably so happy when you found out he moved out."

"Lizzie that's not true…"

"Sure it is." Lizzie walked up the stairs to her room.

Elliot, overhearing his daughter yelling walked over to where Olivia was standing. "What's wrong," he asked when he saw the look on her face.

"Nothing," she said quietly. "We should probably get going." She walked into the living room, Elliot right behind her. "Amanda we need to go."

"Hang on," Elliot said as he pulled Olivia aside. "What's going on here? Everything was fine."

She looked at the floor and then at Elliot. "I don't think this is going to work out," Olivia said as she grabbed her things. "Come on Amanda."

Amanda stood up. "I guess I'll see you later," she said to Kathleen.

Kathleen nodded, "Okay." She walked over to Olivia. "If it means anything, I'm fine with you dating my dad, unlike my sister." She shrugged when she saw the look on Olivia's face. "She'll get over it…I hope," she said, saying the last two words under her breath.

Olivia gave her a small smile. "I hope so too. I'll see you…sometime," she said, not sure when she'd see any of them again.

After saying goodbye to Maureen and Dickie Olivia and Amanda walked to the door. "See you on Monday," she said to Elliot. "And thanks for dinner tonight."

"Liv come on, please don't go," he said, stopping her from opening the door.

"I just…don't think it'll work," she said as she glanced in the direction of where Lizzie had gone.

Elliot looked at the stairs and saw Lizzie's foot in the doorway. "Wait a minute," he said as he faced Olivia. "Does this have something to do with Lizzie? Did she say something to you?"

She sighed, "I just don't think it's a good time right now for us to date."

"Lizzie likes you, you know that," he said.

"She likes me as her dad's partner, not his girlfriend. Anyway…I'll see you on Monday." She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. "Goodnight."

"Bye Elliot," Amanda said, giving him a hug.

"Bye," he said as he returned the hug.

Olivia walked out the door followed by Amanda.

"You can't let one kid get in the way of you being happy," Amanda said as she got into the car.

Olivia sighed and looked at Amanda. "I wish it were that easy." She started the car and drove down the street.

"Just give her time. I'm sure she'll get used to it."

"You sound like Elliot," Olivia said as she glanced over at her when she came to a stop sign. Just as she started to drive again, the car stalled. "Great," she said as she went to start the car again…only it wouldn't start.

"This must be a sign of some sort," Amanda said.

"Very funny," an aggravated Olivia said.

* * *

Elliot just stood there for a moment, not sure what to think. He looked up in the direction of Lizzie's room again. He shook his head and walked back into the living room. He'd talk to her later.

Lizzie, overhearing everything slowly walked downstairs.

"Nice going," Kathleen said as she shoved past her little sister.

"He has us, why does he need her too?"

"Come here," Elliot said from behind her, startling her.

Lizzie walked over to her dad and followed him into the other room.

"This is about mom, isn't it," he asked once she sat down.

She shrugged and looked at her feet.

"Lizzie talk to me."

"Fine it's about mom. Why did she leave? And why are you suddenly dating the woman you work with?" She asked, her voice growing louder.

"Mom left because she's a head case," Kathleen said as she walked past the two on her way upstairs. "And she obviously doesn't love us anymore."

"That was uncalled for, Kathleen," Elliot said sternly.

"She said she loved me before she left," Lizzie interjected, glaring at her sister.

"You know, I think she left because of all the whining you do. You're always complaining about something."

By now, Lizzie had tears in her eyes. She looked at her dad. "Did she leave because of me?"

He shook his head. "No, she didn't leave because of you." He looked up at Kathleen. "And if you don't want to be grounded again, I suggest you get upstairs now."

Kathleen rolled her eyes, "Whatever." She looked over at Lizzie. "Don't you remember the day before mom left? You were asking her why she had a plane ticket and where she was going and she just yelled at you. And then the next day you kept asking her why she was packing and she told you to shut up."

Lizzie stood up. "It _is_ my fault." More tears made their way down her face. She ran to the front door and opened it.

"Shoot," Kathleen said to herself. "Lizzie, stop!"

Elliot got up. "Elizabeth get back here!" He yelled as she ran out of the house. He ran after her, but she was too fast and it was rather dark outside.

Lizzie ignored her father's yelling and just continued to run. Her sister was right; her mom had yelled at her several times that day. She finally stopped, mainly because she was completely out of breath.

* * *

"That's it, I'm calling a tow truck," Olivia said in defeat. She took her cell phone out and started to dial when she saw … "Elizabeth?"

"No I'm Amanda."

Olivia rolled her eyes. "Not you. Hang on I'll be right back." She got out of the car and walked to the other side of the street. "Lizzie what are you doing out here?"

Lizzie looked up at Olivia and just let the tears run down her face. "It's my fault," she cried.

"What is?"

"The reason that my mom left."

"Come on, you need to get home. I don't want you outside when it's so dark." Olivia walked her over to the car.

"Hi Lizzie," Amanda said as she handed Olivia the phone. "Here…but I'm telling you it's a sign."

Olivia shook her head and turned the key once more. "Just this once," she said to herself. The car then started.

"See, I told you it was a sign," Amanda said with a smile.

"Enough with the signs!" She sighed, "Sorry." She parked on the street and helped Lizzie out of the car. "I'll be right back." She looked down at Lizzie, "Come on. I'm sure your dad is extremely worried about you."

"Olivia?"

"What?"

"Thanks," she said quietly.

* * *

**Well that was a lot longer than I thought it was going to be. Anyway I hope you liked it! Please review and thanks for reading! =) **


	11. Chapter 11

_**Okay I have been trying to upload this chapter since SATURDAY! Apparently there was some sort of problem with the site and no one could upload, review, etc... so that's why I'm only just now updating this story. Sorry for the much longer than anticipated wait!!**_

**I'm back, I'm sorry it's been so long since I last updated. Life just got in the way. Anyway thank you so much to those who have reviewed so far! It means a lot to me. =) **

**Oh and for those who may not know (though I'm sure you all do), season 8 came out on DVD this past Tuesday!! Yay!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything except Amanda.**

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**Outside the Stabler Residence**

**Same Evening**

"Thanks," Lizzie said quietly as she and Olivia walked up to the house.

"You're welcome. And It's not your fault," Olivia said as she placed her arm around the 13 year old. She then knocked on the front door.

"That has to be the police," Elliot said as he quickly put his cell phone down.

Maureen walked to the door and opened it. "Lizzie," she said as she wrapped her arms around her little sister. She then looked up at Olivia and smiled. "Yeah it's the police dad."

Elliot rushed to the door. "Lizzie!"

"Hi dad," she said as she looked down at her feet.

He pulled her into a hug and looked up at Olivia. "How did you know where she was?"

She shook her head. "I think it may have been some sort of sign." She shrugged after receiving a look from Elliot. "Amanda put the idea into my head. Anyway you may want to have a little talk with her," she said aside to him.

"Why don't you go inside," he said as he motioned for Lizzie to come into the house. Once she was out of earshot, he looked at Olivia. "What do you mean?"

"She has it in her head that it's her fault that Kathy left, El. Once she was able to talk, she said something about the way in which Kathy was talking to her that day." She shrugged, not knowing what the whole story was since Lizzie kept getting choked up while telling Olivia what had gone on that day.

He nodded, "Yeah…that's why she ran out of the house. And I don't think Kathleen basically blaming her helped."

Olivia shook her head. "El I don't think we're talking about the same day."

"Please don't try to tell me why my daughter ran away. I think I'd have a better idea of what happened especially since you just up and left," he said, his voice no longer full of relief, but rather beginning to fill with anger.

"Just ask her about the day Kathy left," Olivia said, not wanting to cause more tension. "Anyway I'll see you on Monday."

"Liv." He placed a hand on her shoulder. "Thank you."

"No problem." She gave him a small smile before walking out of the house.

"Olivia."

The sound of Lizzie's voice caused Olivia to stop and turn around. "Yeah?"

She walked out to where Olivia was. "I'm sorry for what I said before. I didn't mean it. Don't go…not yet. Please?"

"Thank you…and I know you didn't. It's pretty late right now, but maybe we can come over another time for dinner okay?" She looked up at Elliot who just smiled and nodded.

"How about tomorrow?" Lizzie said. "You're the only one who seems to understand," she said as a few more tears gathered in her eyes.

"Your dad understands honey."

She nodded, "Don't break up with him, not because of me anyway. Okay?"

Olivia smiled softly, "Okay." She looked up at Elliot who now had a smile on his face, having heard most of the conversation. "Now I really need to go." She stood up and looked at Elliot one more time before getting into her car.

"I won't say it," Amanda said before Olivia could say anything.

"Say what? Oh that. You know…you may be right about that sign," she said as she started driving home.

"So you aren't going to break up with him?"

"I don't think so…at least I hope not."

* * *

**Saturday Night**

**Olivia's Apartment**

Olivia sat down on the couch and picked up the book she had been meaning to read, but had yet to find the time. She told herself that she would start reading it a month ago. But that's when her life changed. Then she told herself that she would start reading it once Amanda was settled and life was returning to normal. But then work became extremely busy and she and Elliot…well they had started dating. But now, at this moment, when nothing and no one could distract her (Amanda was asleep), she opened the book. Just as she was about to read the first line she heard a knock at the door. Breathing a rather annoyed sigh, she set the book down on the spot it had occupied for quite some time now and got up and walked to the door. "Now what," she asked herself as she opened the door. A surprised look came across her face. "Elliot?"

He smiled, "Hello to you too."

She moved so he could enter the apartment. "What are you doing here? It's…" She glanced over at the clock. "12:45 in the morning."

"I couldn't stop thinking about what happened last night," he said as he walked over to the couch with Olivia in tow. "I also wanted to talk about, you know, us."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean did you really mean what you said before you left? That you didn't want us to see each other anymore?" His blue eyes were looking right into her brown eyes.

She shrugged and sat down on the couch. "Honestly I don't know anymore. Everything seemed fine until…"

"Until Lizzie expressed her opinions," he finished for her.

"Well that was one of my concerns but after what happened…" She shook her head.

He placed an arm around her. "If it makes you feel any better, Elizabeth feels really bad about what she said to and about you. You probably saved her life last night. You do realize that right?"

"Well I don't know if I saved her life since she wasn't in any actual danger," she countered.

"Yeah but you talked to her and got her to come home. You're a natural mother figure."

She frowned. "Let me get this straight. You want us to be in a relationship because your kids like me and I'm a good mother figure? Is that why?" She moved away from him.

"What? No. Liv I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that." He moved so he was now next to her again. "What I meant was, what you did last night…it basically showed me how committed we both are to one another. You know what I mean?"

She looked down at the floor for a moment and then up at him. "I…I guess."

He placed his hand on her chin and gently kissed her. "I love you," he said as they parted.

Her eyes widened when he said that. He loved her? She knew that they truly liked each other…a lot, but since when did he love her? She took a minute to process what he had just said and cleared her throat. "I uh…I love you too," she said in a whisper.

He kissed her once more before he spoke again. "That's the main reason I came over here tonight. I had to tell you before you really acted on what you said last night."

She shook her head. "El, last night was…well kind of crazy. But I finally got what I was looking for." She smiled at him.

"And what would that be?"

"Your kids' approval of us. I love you too El, and now I can actually tell you that without worrying about what your kids or Amanda for that matter might think." She tried as best she could to fight back the threatening tears, but they came anyway.

"Liv what's wrong," he asked as he took a tissue and wiped her eyes.

She shook her head, "I just…no one has ever really said 'I love you' to me before. My mom rarely told me she loved me; there were a few occasions when I was little when she would say it but I don't think she meant it." She sniffled and wiped her eyes. The moment was broken when a scream could be heard from the next room. "Oh no," she said softly as she quickly got up and hurried into Amanda's room. She turned on the lamp that was next to the bed.

Amanda was sitting up, tears falling down her already tear-stained face. "I saw it again," she said in a shaky voice.

Olivia didn't say anything. Instead she wrapped her arms around Amanda and just sat there for a moment. "You're safe remember," she said after a few moments.

Elliot stood in the doorway, just watching the two. Not wanting to interrupt them, he waited until Olivia had finally gotten Amanda to calm down. He watched as she helped her lay back down and cover her up and give her a reassuring smile and kiss goodnight.

"Everything's going to be fine," Olivia said one more time before she turned off the lamp. She noticed that Amanda had fallen back asleep. She quietly walked out of the room and closed the door. As she turned around, she nearly jumped a mile in the air. "How long have you been standing there?"

"Long enough to see what I've already told you," he said as he led her back to the couch in the living room.

Olivia just shrugged, "I guess it just comes natural to me. There are times when I question whether I should have gone into social work instead of becoming a detective."

"I may sound a bit biased, but since I get to see you everyday at work, I'm glad you chose to be a detective."

She gave him a small smile. "Actually there's something I've been meaning to tell you."

"You're not quitting are you?" He now had a worried look on his face. He didn't want a new partner…again.

She shook her head. "No I'm not leaving. I got a call from Cragen today. He told me he needed to see me ASAP."

The relieved expression he had now reverted back to the worried one. "What happened?"

"He promoted me…sort of."

"What do you mean?"

"Let's just say that I've been promoted to Detective First Grade."

He couldn't help but smile. He wasn't going to lose her as a partner. The relieved expression returned to his face. "That's great Liv. Congratulations."

"Thank you. I asked him the same thing by the way."

"What are you talking about?" He was now confused.

"I asked him that since he promoted me if I had to get a new partner. Yes Stabler, I can read your face like a book." She smiled. "He said that as long as we keep our personal lives outside of work, that we'd still be able to work together."

"Well I'm relieved to know that." He kissed her once more before looking at the clock on the wall. "I should probably…"

"Yes, go home to your kids. That's where you should be at 1:00 in the morning," she scolded in a teasing tone.

As he walked to the door, his cell phone began to ring. "Why would they be up at this hour," he said as he looked at the caller ID. "Stabler," he answered. A rather frightful expression appeared on his face as he listened to what the voice on the other end said. "I'll be right there." He closed the phone and looked at Olivia.

"What is it," she asked, now rather worried.

"That was Maureen," he said quietly. "She was calling from the hospital."

"What happened?" She placed her hand on his.

He shook his head, "I guess Kathleen really was feeling sick," he said more so to himself than to Olivia.

"Elliot what are you talking about?"

"All I know is that she's in the hospital and I need to get over there right now." He rushed out the door, leaving a rather worried Olivia. What was going on? Should she follow him? She looked back towards Amanda's room. "No," she said to herself knowing she couldn't leave Amanda home alone especially just after the nightmare she just had. "He'll call me and let me know," she said as she walked back to the couch and picked up the book again. She opened it and started to read it.

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**Okay that's chapter 11! Thanks so much for sticking with me and with the story. =) What do you think is wrong with Kathleen? I'll try to have the next chapter up by next weekend at the latest. Please review and thank you for reading!**


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